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)ii'jjico )(' . ■4ie£n 



LIFE 

OF THE 

Rev. ELISHA W. GREEN, 

t 

ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF 

The Kentucky Normal and Theological Institute— now the State 
University at Louisville; Eleven Years Moderator of the 
Mt. Zion Baptist Association; Five Years Modera- 
tor OF the Consolidated Baptist Educa- 
tional Association 

and over Thirty Years Pastor ok ihe Colored Baptist 
Churches of Maysville and Paris. 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 



MAYSVILLE, KV , . . . ' 



THE REPUBLICAN PRINTING OFFICE, 
1888. 



^ 



:i 31 laay y 



h 



-? '■l 



C^n^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, 1888, 

Bv THE Rev. E. W. GREEN, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at 

Washington. 



V 



A 



/.. 



PREFACE. 



For some time I have considered prayerfully the matter of writing 
a sketch of my past days, but not so much of the present, for it speaks 
for itself. When I am dead some profound, scholarly and energetic 
historian can portray my present days to the ages yet not born. I have 
only endeavored, as far as I could remember, to tell the most interest- 
ing incidents of my life as a slave and my life as 'a minister of Jesus 
Christ. If in this I have failed, then 1 ajjologize to those under whose 
eyes these lines may chance to fall. I am by no means a learned man, 
neither a historian nor a scholar. What little I know was the result of 
the opportunities of a slave. I secured Brother Butler's service to write 
while I dictated. Brother Butler is responsible for many utterances of 
elegant diction of speech. His services have been of much value. 
Many of my associate ministers have gone down to the grave. Adams, 
Lee, Monroe, Braxton, Clarke are now sleeping the sleep of the dead, 
and yet Dupee and Campbell and myself survive them. But our days 
are passing away and it may be soon that we shall rest with them. By 
the grace of God, if I live in the future as I have in the past, I can, 
when I come to die, say like Paul: " I have fought a good fight, I have 
finished my course, I have kept the faith." I ask God's blessings upon 
this volume wherever it may chance to fall. E. W-. Green. 

Maysvillc, Ky., i88y. 



BISHOP DUPEE'S LETTER. 



Dedicated to Bishop E. W. Green, of Maysville, Ky. 

October i8, 1886. • 

In 1 85 1 I made the personal acquaintance of Elder Elisha Winfield 
Green, then pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Maysville. 
We met in Lexington, where a most intimate and loving acquaint- 



ance was formed, and it has ripened into that brotherly love that Paul 
speaks of in Hebrews xiii-i. Brother Green is a Baptist of Bible type, 
and a Christian gentleman of the highest order — an able and success- 
ful minister of the New Testament. He has been pastor of the church 
of Maysville ever since the year 1S44, and has devoted his time to that 
and to the High-street Baptist Church of Paris ever since the year 1865, 
and has supplied both of the churches as pastor with satisfaction and 
success. Truly astonishing, for he has preached in the following named 
places in protracted meetings : For the Rev. London Farrel, of Lexing- 
ton; Elder Henry Adams, of Louisville; Elder James Monroe, of 
Frankfort; Elder Wallace Shelton, of Cincinnati, and he has preached 
in Paducah for the writer, and many and very many other places, and 
in all he has been successful and the Lord has-blessed his labors abund- 
antly. 

He was a distinguished minister in the State Baptist Convention 
and General Association, and filled an important office in both. For a 
number of years he was Moderator of the Mount Zion Baptist Associa- 
tion and he is now Treasurer of the Consolidated Educational Baptist 
Associadon. 

Brother Green's value to his people as a Christian gentleman, as an 
efficient minister of the gospel and a successful pastor, and as an intel- 
ligent and useful citizen, cannot easily be estimated. He has few ene- 
mies, but like Paul, they hate him without a cause. He is a faithful 
and fearless expounder of the Word of God — a minister and advocate 
of the doctrine of one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and of the doctrine 
of the final perseverance of the saints. 

Now, in regard to his marriages, he was exceedingly lucky in his 
first marriage with Miss Susan Young, for she certainly was an excep- 
tionally good Christian lady and wife, with whom the Bishop spent all 
the days of her marriage relation with that degree of happiness 
characteristic of Abraham of old. And he says he has begun a repeti- 
tion of the same kind of blessing and happy Hfe in his second marriage. 

Now I pray that God may keep and preserve him and bring him 
after labor to reward is the earnest prayer of his friend and co-laborer in 
Jesus Christ. George Dupee, 

Washington-street Baptist Church, Paducah, Ky. 



TRIBUTE OF A FRIEND. 



Mavsville, Kv., December 2, 1887. 

Rev. E. IV. Green, Pastor First Colored Baptist Church : Having 
learned of your autobiography and history of the church, 1 think it my 
duty as a friend of almost half a century to say a few words. 1 have 
known the Reverend Mr. Green since I was a boy, when I came to 
Maysville to go into business in the wholesale house of John P. 
Dobyns. He was an employe \\\ the house, like myself, for many 
years. I had the opportunity of studying him perfectly. He was 
always kind and courteous, faithful antl honest, and a true Christian. 
He prepared himself for the ministry during the time and organized 
his church and built his house of worship — which has been since torn 
down and rebuilt — and he now has one of the largest and handsomest 
churches in the city. His works have been of more benefit to his race 
than everything else combined. May he live many years to continue 
his good work and when he leaves his present home may it be to enter 
a far better and more glorious one above, and receive the crown of 
eternal life at the right hand of God, is the prayer of his old friend, 

JOHN M. STOCKTON. 



I 



CHAPTER I. 

WAS born in Bourbon County, near Paris, Ky., six miles to the 
right of that place, on the Georgetown turnpike. The date of ^ 



my birth I am not prepared to mention, because the book that 
had the ages in it was burned. I lived in Bourbon County until I was 
ten years old; then I came to Mason County, where I now reside. 
Some instances which took place in Bourbon while I was there I have 
forgotten, and a few I remember yet. For instance, the following: 
The name of tlie man I lived with in Bourbon was Judge Brown. My 
mother, sisters Charlotte and Harriet and the balance of the children 
were then divided among the heirs of Dobbyns — sister Evaline to Silas 
Devaush; brother Marshall to the same man; brother Alvin to 
Thomas Perry ; brother Henry to Thomas Dobbyns ; brother Elijah to 
Enoch Pepper. I might say here, so far as to the incidents of slavery 
and the other acts of this time, I have no knowledge to present 
in this sketch that in my estimation would be of interest to any one. 

In 1828, as near as I can remember, I went to Mayslick, Ky., a 
small town distant about twelve miles from Maysville, in the same 
county. Mayslick is one among the oldest towns in the State. I think 
it has been noted for a Baptist Church since the year 1792. I went to 
that place and lived with J. L. Kirk, who married my young mistress, 
lane P. Dobbyns. While with him, of course, as usual where slavery 
existed, I saw very rough times. While there I cooked, washed, spun 
flax and yarn, and did all the house-work the same as a woman. Here 
was where a man became a woman if such ever were possible in the 
history of the world. I lived here about four years — from 1828 to 1832. 
When Mr. Dobbvns had been dead awhile, mv old mistress married 
Mr. Weaker Warder. My sister and four children and myself were 
sold in Washington, Mason County, Ky., at a sheriff's sale. When 
we were put up to be sold, .Mr. Oliver Kale refused to "cry" us off, 
and a man by the name of Charlie Ward supplied the place, .\fter 
the selling, we then broke up at our old home and my mistress rented 



THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



a place on the Lexington turnpike, where she remained three or four 
years. She then married the Rev. Waher Warder, as I have stated 
elsewhere. This act of selling colored people was considered by many 
as being of a low character, while there were those who thought it 
right, and to sell a negro was nothing more than selling a mule. After 
my mistress had married Mr. Warder, we then moved near the North 
Fork, on a farm that formerly belonged to Benjamin Fitzgerald. I 
remained with Mr. Warder some time, until his death. 

I will mention an instance which occurred before I left Bourbon. It 
should have been mentioned before this, but I happen to think of it 
since. I well remember that at one time before leaving Bourbon 
County 1 attempted to attend Sabbath school — well, in fact, I did attend 
a kind of Sabbath school, gotten up by some of the blacks on the place 
and in different portions of the neighborhood. 1, with some others, 
went and about the time we had gotten in a good way enjoying our- 
selves, the Patrollers came and whipped all of the grown persons in the 
schoolhouse. But, being very small, when they came in I ran out, 
passing under the arms of one that was standing in the door. Having 
escaped 1 then had about a mile to go and I ran so terribly fast that 
when I reached home I was well nigh out of breath. I often look back 
at that time and now, whenever I pass that place, I draw the scene 
fresh in mind. About this time the colored people had meetings out in 
some place to themselves, and would prepare for the Patrollers. If it 
were near a road, they would go to each side of the road and stretch a 
grapevine across it about as high as a horse, so as to strike a man about 
his breast. Those in the house would come out, sometimes with chunks 
of fire to make the men get from the door. The men, of course, not 
seeing the grapevine, would run into it and thus were thrown from their 
horses and the jmrty would get clear. The object of the slaveholders 
was not to have the l)lacks gather in meetings or anything else, because, 
.said they, when together that way, they (the negroes) would make plots 
to run off. 

Another horrible crime I must mention here. About this time slave- 
traders would go to Virginia and buy up the negroes. Upon one Sab- 
bath morning, I saw one with twenty-five or thirty colored men hand- 
cuffed and chained. There were three or four wagons within which 
were a host of women and children. Lawyer Payne, who was not then 
a member of any church and who owned slaves himself, said that a 
colored person should never again be brought through the city in that 
fix on Sabbath morning. And on another occasion I saw in Mayslick 



WRI'ITEN BY HIMSELF. 



another company of forty or fifty men, chained in the same manner as 
those mentioned before. There were some five or six wagons loaded 
w ith women and children. The foremost man looked to be about sev- 
enty years old, and he was singing: "Hark from the tomb.'' Mrs. 
Ann Anderson, a white woman who was sitting at the window, could 
not help crying. Indeed it was enough to have moved a heart of stone. 
It would, in my estimation, have moved the feelings of the most treach- 
erous man or woman in the cause of slavery. It was a scene upon 
which I looked with horror, the objects of the scene being my brethren, 
according to divine creation, the same blood running in their veins as 
in mine, and, being under the same yoke of bondage, I felt for them 
deeply in my soul. Puit I was unable to assist them in the least. 1 
cannot picture the scene as it of right deserves, because my language is 
such that it will not permit. But indeed the scene was horrible to be- 
hold. I believe that the stain of slavery and its degrading impressions 
will long linger in the minds of generations yet unborn. 

I was converted on the farm of Mr. Walter Warder, about three 
miles to the left of Mayslick, Mason County. When converted I was 
[)lowing. It was one Friday morning, between 9 and 10 o'clock. 
Shortly after my conversion, I was taken down with scarlet fever. It 
was about six months after that I was baptized at Nicholas' Ford, on the 
North Fork of Licking river, 1)y the Rev. Walter Warder.* 

In 1835 ^ married Miss Susan Young. In 1838 I left my wife in 
the neighborhood of Mayslick as a servant of Mrs. Sissen and came to 
Maysville. They did not get along together very well, and Mrs. Sissen 
sold her, as she thought, to Mr. Peck, of Washington, Ky., who was 
trading in colored people, or rather slaves, because in those times we 
were not known as colored people. She sold my wife with the expecta- 
tion of sending her south, or "down the river," as the expression was. 
My master, John P. Dobbyns, gave the negro-trader the money and 
sent him out there. He bought and brought her to Maysville and, 
being unable to keep her, he sold her and three children to John C. 
Reid. I do not know how long Mr. Reid kept them, but I su[)p()se 
about ten years. My master l)Ought her back again, leaving her in the 
hands of Reid, with the three children. She remained with John P. 
Dobbyns until he failed financially. Having made a final failure, they 
put her and the children up at the market for sale. For better informa- 
tion I will insert the following paper, which speaks itself: 



=■'1 once saw Mr. Warder bapti/e forty persons before breakfast. 



THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



To the Public: 

Elder Elisha Grten, the bearer hereof, is a minister in good and 
regular standing, ol the Baptist Church, and an acceptable pastor of the 
African Church (Baptist) of the city of Maysville. By the pecuniary 
misfortune of the gentleman who owned his wife and children they were 
thrown upon the market for sale, and Elder (ireen was induced by the 
advice of many friends to become the purchaser of his wife and two 
children, at the price of $850. His means (although he and his wife 
labor faithfully and live economically) will not enable \\\m to meet the 
payments as they become due, and he has been counselled to seek as- 
sistance to enable him to meet his payment. We commend him to the 
kind consideration of the Christian public, and particularly to the mem- 
bers of the Baptist Church. 

Maysville, Ky., November i, 1858. 

H. Ray, 
Pastor of the Baptist Church, Maysville. 
Samuel S. Miner, 
John McDaniel, 
John Hunt, 
A. M. January, 
Thomas A. Ross, 
Ror5ERT A. Cochran, 
John Shackleford, 
Samuel C. Pearce, 
Michael Ryan, 
Samuel W. Wood, 
James A. Johnson, 
Lewis Collins. 

These thirteen men, whose names are signed to the ijaj^er, were 
very generous, shown from the fact that when I told them I could not 
purchase my wife and children, they drew the money from the bank 
and said it was for me, saying: "If you never pay it, we will never 
trouble your family. " I worked and made the money and paid it back 
in calls in the bank. Mr. Collins, one of the gentlemen on the list, told 
me to come and take this house in which I am at present. He charged 
me $4 per month as the rent. He said that when I had paid him $300 
in rent, he would give me a deed to the property. But for the fact that 
I was $850 in debt because of my family, I was a httle cautious about 
doing so. When I had paid for my family, property had advanced 
several dollars. He had been offered $500 for the house that I was in. 
I then, in order to possess it myself, gave him $500 for the property. 
One lesson I learned from this, and that was that it will not pay to rent. 

I had not been in Maysville long until I began a prayer meeting in 
the house of old sister Jennie Marshall, on Short street. A few brethren 
and sisters and myself continued to hold meetings in sister Marshall's 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 



house until the congregation became too large. We rented a house 
from Aunt Rosy Brannum. We stayed here till it became too small for 
the congregations. We then got a house for five years from Mr. 
Spalding, which house now stands by the side of the new church. I 
suppose you will be pleased to know how and by what movements I 
came to be a preacher, and also the incidents that pushed me forward 
to the occasion. I was sexton of the white Baptist Church for sixteen 
years, and while associated with them, seeing different displays and 
other movements in church, hearing various men preach, 1, of course, 
was somewhat struck with the idea of doing something for (lod. 1 was 
not only sexton of the church, but a worshiper in there among the 
whites. They saw in me the gift to preach, and two or three of the 
deacons went to John P. Dobbyns, my master, and got the authority to 
license me. I knew nothing of it. This is the form of the license 
granted in those days to colored ministers, especially to myself: 

At a regular meeting of the Maysville Baptist Church, May lo, 
1845, the following resolution was unanimously adopted: Be it 

Resolved, That Elisha Green, the property of John P. Dobbyns, of 
this city, has full liberty and permission from this day to exercise his 
gifts in the public before the colored population of this city or any others 
before whom in the providence of God he may be cast. 

E. F. Metcalf, Church Clerk. 

Thomas G. Keen, who was then pastor here, met to ordain me, 
but 1 refused to be ordained. I was not ordained until about two 
years after this. Dr. Helm, Mr. Larue and Thomas G. Keen com- 
posed the council for ordination. On one Lord's day I was called to 
go up to the mouth of Cabin Creek to preach a funeral, and not know- 
ing, Mr. Means, who is the undertaker now in Maysville, got a com- 
pany and went up there for the purpose of protecting me. When 1 had 
gotten through preaching I came out of the door of the schoolhouse and 
my opponent walked around me and looked as though I was a lion. 
About this time one of my members moved to Ripley, O. I do not 
think she had been there long until she was taken sick and her sickness 
resulted in death. Whereupon, I was invited to attend her funeral. 
Upon receiving the invitation, I went down to the river with a pass. 
They refused to take me across on account of the "Fugitive Slave 
Law." Finding that 1 could not get across, I came back up town and 
got Mr. Thomas Matthews to stand responsible for my value should I 
have escaped, as they anticipated. Finally I got across the river. I 
said to the Captian of the ferry-boat: 

"Were it not that 1 had a funeral to attend at Rii)ley I would go 



THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA \V. GREEN, 



back home, because," continued I, "they are so afraid that I would 
run off. I have had a dozen chances to run off. I do not want free- 
dom in that way." 

In 1855 I went to Lexington, Ky., to assist Bishop George W. 
Dupee. When I had finished my service in Lexington, I went to 
Georgetown, about twelve miles from L,exington on the Cincinnati 
Southern Railroad. Bishop Dupee requested me to go and fill an ap- 
pointment for him, as he was sick. When I arrived the church was 
crowded. I went into the pulpit, read a chapter, sang and prayed. I 
was in the act of taking my text when unexpectedly a white man came 
in with a stick in his hand. Having come about half way up the church, 
he knocked on the floor and asked if there were any white men there. 
The answer was " No." He then shook his stick at me and said: 

"•You come out of that pulpit, then." 

Said I: "Very well," and I came out. I was stopping with 
Brother Vinson. Early the next morning Elder Larue, pastor of the 
white Baptist Church of Georgetown, who was also at my ordination, 
came to see me. He asked if I were in the house. Finding that 1 
was there, said he: "Tell him that I want to see him." I came out 
according to request. He asked me when I was going home. I told 
him that I was going home to-day, for I was satisfied with Georgetown. 
When I said this to him, he replied to me, "You can stay here and 
lireach as long as you wish." 

I think I staid there and preached three nights after this. My 
work in Georgetown being finished for the present, I returned to Lex- 
ington from whence I had gone. Having an appointment to fill in 
Paris, I, in company with Bishop Dupee, went to the ticket office to 
obtain a ticket for Paris. I went to the office, called for a ticket, but 
failed to get it. The ticket agent said that he did not know me and 
therefore could sell me no ticket. He asked if there was any one near 
by that knew me and could be responsible to him for my purchasing a 
ticket. I told him that "Here is General Shafer, who lives in Mays- 
ville; he knows me." The ticket agent said that he did not know 
Shafer. Well, I got no ticket at last. Bishop Dupee told me to stand 
by the train till it started and then get on, " for," continued he, "you 
will get half way to Paris before the conductor gets to you, and should 
he put you off, you can walk the balance of the way." 

When the train came up I got on, as I had been advised, without 
a ticket. Sure enough when the train got about half way to Paris, the 
conductor comes walking down the aisle very pleasingly. Holding out 



WRITTEN HY HIMSELF. 



his hand, said ho: •'(jive mc your ticket." 1 told him that the ticket 
agent would give me none and therefore I had none. L'pon this, he 
in(|uired where I was going. I told him '"to Paris." In order to cut 
olT the conversation. 1 asked him what the price was. He told me that 
it was eighty-five cents and passed on. 1 never saw him any more till 
al)out two years afterward, when going to Lexington again. He was 
sitting in the same car, not far from me. I told him that I had been 
wanting to see him since 1855. Looking much surprised, said he, 
" What for?" 1 told him according to law he should have put me off 
the train, and then asked his reasons why he did not. He told me 
that mv face satisfied him. I told him: " When I was on your train 
that (lav 1 thought vou would watch me to see whether I got off at 
Paris." He said that he never thought of me any more. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE "Underground Railroad" deserves to be mentioned here. 
The President of this movement, Mr. Carbin, lived in Avondale, 
(). I went there to dedicate a church. While preaching, I dis- 
covered in the congregation an old lady sitting in the middle portion of 
the church with an old fashioned Methodist bonnet on. At the time I 
never knew who the woman was, but took good notice of her bonnet. 
The next day being Monday, I thought before leaving to visit my 
niece. In passing Mr. Carbin's house, he asked if I were the preacher. 
I replied that I was. He invited me in. I accepted the invitation and 
went in. When I was seated, he called his wife, who was in another 
room. He told me that his wife was out yesterday and heard me 
preach. I replied that I noticed during my preaching a lady sitting in 
the church with an old fashioned bonnet on. Said he, " Yes, that was 
she." He said that he had been the President of the " Underground 
Railroad" for a number of years, and began telling a joke on his wife. 
He said: "I must tell you a joke on my wife. There was a family that 
came from the south up here to spend the summer. They had with 
them a very nice voung colored lady who did not wish to go soutli 
any more. I studied and could not fix any plan to get her from 
slavery without creating a disturbance," and that he did not want to do. 
So finally he told his wife about it. She said that she could fix a plan 
to get her. He said that his wife saw the girl and posted her that upon 
a certain day when the whites had sat down to dinner for her to leave 
and come to our house. The girl did so, and upon the first opportu- 
nitv she came over. His wife got a common sized pillow, made a fine 
dress and dressed the pillow ; put a bonnet over it as a head for it, 
secured a vail for the girl, one for the baby. She dressed very fine and 
started the girl before her, having the pillow as a baby. They went to 
tlie starting point, put the girl on and tore the baby up, came back 



WRITTEN HV HIMSKLt. 



nome, took the vail from her face. The)' never did know who it was. 
Thus the girl escaped from slavery into a land of freedom. 

This " Underground Railroad" was not, as some thought, a rail- 
road under the ground, but only assistance rendered a slave to obtain 
his freedom, or to escape from slavery to the land of freedom. 

When 1 came to Maysville in February of 1838, I was hired to 
Leach & Dobbyns. While here sometimes I would be called u|)on 
to weigh salt and sugar, and in this way I learned the figures. I would 
weigh hemp and many articles about the house. As 1 thought that I 
had been called to preach I desired to read the word of God. I spent 
' all the time that I could spare from my w(jrk at night and the time I had 
during the day at reading. I kept my book in the third story. In the 
summer season, when work was slack, 1 would go up there endeavor- 
ing to study and read the Bible.* 

Being frequently called from my studies, they not knowing what I 
was doing, my boss woidd say to me, " What in the h — 1 are you doing 
up there?" Well, I went on after this for some years, having been 
much benefited. 

I commenced preaching in Flemingsburg (a small village about six 
miles from Johnson's Station) in 1853. I was compelled to preach 
wherever I could get a chance. While at Flemingsburg, there being 
quite an extensive movement to get a colored Baptist Church. I went 
into the Methodist Church and preached in there, having been granted 
the use of their house of worship. While preaching in this church 1 did 
very well for some time until they (the Methodists) saw that the influence 
of the Baptists, through my instrumentality, was becoming strong. Thev 
contracted that I should preach in the church on a certain Sunday, as 
I was obliged to be at home at night. Frequentl\ they would hold 
class-meeting till 12 o'clock, and therefore this cut off my i)reaching in 
the morning. As they had meeting in the evening again, Mr. 
Hendricks, the Presbyterian ])astor, would frecpiently let me have his 
church. 

When it was so that I could not get this, I would be favored with 
the Christian Church. By this time the white Baptists saw that I wa> 
in the act of doing good, when they favored me with the use of their 
church regularl)-. I continued preaching here till 1855, at which time 
I was called to the church at Paris. When 1 left this place there were 
about thirty that had [irofessed Christ uader mv administration. I 



-The first Bible th.^t 1 md throii ,'h twi ;e is on mv t il)i i now Th it Irts been f )rtv yeirs 
ago. 



lO THE LIFK OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN. 



fre<iuentlv preached in Bracken, Lewis and Fleming Counties. 

'I'he next thing was to witness the selling of my son John. After 
Dobbyns' misfortune, he kept John for his own use, and failed to pay 
for him. Therefore he was sold to Roe Pearce. Pearce in turn sold 
him south. As it happened, my wife and I were going to Paris and 
when we got to the "Blue Lick Hills," in the month of December, we 
met our son John. He was tied, being in his shirt sleeves. Mr. Jack 
Hook,* who kept a livery stable in Paris some years and who is well- 
known there, was stage driver. Seeing him get on the stage in a tied 
condition, after riding about two miles, Mr. Hook urged them to untie 
him, saving that he would go his security. When we had eaten dinner 
at "The Lick," and started, he urged them that as John had on no 
coat to let him get inside of the stage. They did so and he rode from 
"The Lick" to Paris in the stage. When we got to the Paris jail, the 
stage stopped and our son John was put in jail. I then telegraphed 
to Mr. Pearce's father to keep him till I could get him a home. But 
instead of this they sold him to Wilby Scott, who took him south, and 
he was again sold in Memphis. Tenn., to a man that kept a livery 
stable. He staid with this man till the outbreak of the war. The man 
then sold out and went to Texas. All that I could hear was that war 
broke out in Texas, and many colored people were sent to Cuba. 1 
heard nothing more of John. I suppose that he was in the crowd that 
was sold. The sight of this act I thought would break the heart of my 
wife. When the stage drove up to the steps, the proprietor came and 
opened the stage door. My wife was crying. He told her to hush. 
I said to him that that woman was my wife and that we had seen our 
son tied in ropes going south. Then said he: "Old lady get out." 
It was my son that I saw tied, sold and taken from me. Now as to 
the manner in which I considered the act. I considered it wicked and 
mean, not having the power to assist him in the least w^hatever. You 
can judge of my feelings at this time. But thank God that now there 
are no more such acts put upon our mothers, fathers, sons, daughters 
and wives. All my children were sold at a sheriffs sale except my 
daughter Amanda. The court had appraised my wife and four oldest 
children. And, according to law, they should have been put in jail. 
Mr. Watson Andrews went my security, I not knowing anything of the 
action. He went my security that my children would be forthcoming 
on the day of the sale. The court gave me the liberty of selecting 
them homes, which I did. And the nine gentlemen came together, and 



•'Mr. Hook was reared in Maysville and had played with my son John. 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. II 



bought mv wife and children at $850. They told nie to go and make 
the money and pay it in "bank calls," but if I could not do this, none 
of them would trouble my family. 

People may look at me now and say that I see an easy time and 
everything seems to be going well with me. If it is so. I can say that 1 
have come through " floods and flames" to enjoy them. I have often 
been in a condition that I knew not what to do. It seemed sometimes 
that circumstances would overcome me, but I am thankful that Provi- 
dence has always provided a way by which 1 could come out of those 
unhappy moments of discontent. 

It pleased (iod to place my body under the influence of what is 
called inflammatory rheumatism. While I was sick, my young mistress, 
Alice Dobbyns, who was between eight and nine years old, would 
come up into my room to see me every evening when she had come 
home from school. One day she said to me: "Uncle Elisha, you 
must learn to write." I told her that I could not. Said she: "Yes 
you can, and I am going to set a copy for you." She began by setting 
me the alphabet, then set for me copies in writing. In a month I 
wrote a letter to my brother, who was at that time in the State of 
Missouri. Finding that she had given me much information about 
writing, I asked my master if I could make her a present. He said 
that he had no objections. 1 bought for her a ten-dollar gold pencil. 
Afterward, when I would be on my way to Paris, meeting with 
"negro traders," they would in(|uire of me where I was going. I 
would tell them that I was going to Paris to preach. They would then 
ask me if I could write. I would tell them that I could. Then, not 
satisfied, they would ask who learnt me. 1 would tell them my 
young mistress, John P. Dobbyns' daughter. 

I began preaching in Paris, July. 1855. And to begin my ministr\- 
at this place was no small task. Indeed, it was, of course, in the midst 
of that foulest of crimes, "brutal slavery." Many of the whites there 
thought me not capable of managing the ordinances and other pastoral 
duties of the church more than to preach. I woidd not sul)mit to their 
opinions and said before I would be found so doing 1 would go home, 
or rather I would "get on the stage and go to Maysville. " They see- 
ing in my actions that I possessed some quality of manhood, and that 
if I could not rule I would not be ruled, yielded to my jnirpose. I think 
of this act as one the lowest ever committed under the sun. It was 
mean, treacherous, cowardly and unmanly in every form of perpetra- 
tion. It was on the order of master and slave in the church of ("lod. 



12 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



When a few of the colored people of Paris, members of the white 
church, came out to be organized into a separate church, the pastor of 
the white church,* Rev. Mr. Link, drew up the following styled rules 
for the Alrican Baptist Church : 

I. We adopt the same declaration of faith and practice with the 
Baptist Church of which we are members. 

II. We, as a church, WiU elect our own officers; call and main- 
tain our own pastor; administer the ordinances to the church; 
receive, discipline, dismiss or exclude members only with the advice 
and approval of the church from which we are separated; provided, 
she will, at the proper time, by committee or otherwise, advise with 
us on any of these matters. If she does not, at our request, present to 
her pastor or deacons we will proceed in the fear of God to attend to 
these duties according to our own judgment. 

III. Our organization shall be styled '-The First African Baptist 
Church in Paris." 

IV. We will elect delegates from the membershij) of the Baptist 
Church to bear our letter and represent us in the association to which 
said church l)elongs. 

V. We will report to the Baptist Church, or her clerk, as often 
as that church may direct, a strict account of our business and 

condition. 

VI. When we shall fail to comply with these ol)ligations, or 
maintain properly the worship of God, or any other emergency shall 
make it nece.ssary, the Baptist Church in Paris, by giving us two 
months notice and a hearing before them, if we ask it, may rescind the 
act of separation, and by so doing, all who are at the time members of the 
'' First African Baptist Church in Paris," shall become members of said 
Baptist Church and subject to her discipline and care in all respects as we 
are now. 

VII. On motion it was voted that Elder Green, the pastor of the 
colored church referred to above, be authorized to receive members 
and attend to the discipline of the church in the absence of the white 
members of the church. 

I would have you understand the distinction of the churches 
mentioned. "The Baptist Church," means the white church. "The 
African Baptist Church" referred to is the colored church. If you will 
read carefully the rules you will find that the colored church was a 
slave to the white Baptist Church. So long as we complied with their 
ideas and judgment in matters of worship, we could remain a separate 
and distinct church, but when we failed in their judgment to comply, 
the act must be rescinded and then all the members of the African 
church were back in the white church. It was not even in our power 



-The white Baptist Church sat, at that time, on the Winchester pike, on the left-hand side 
oi the railroad going to Lexington from Paris, a little this side from Mr. Thomas' planing mills. 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 1 3 



to select delegates from our church; tliis the whites did. .\fter the 
organization, the City Council held a meeting in which it was proposed 
to limit our meetings to 9 o'clock — that is, night meetings. Major 
Williams told the Council that proposition would not suit and that we 
should have until to o'clock, "because," said he, " the servants will 
be at work in their homes until late and if they have any time for 
meeting they should have more time." 

These are the names of the deacons: Brothers Daniel Murphy, 
Sr. , CJarrett Lamb, Henry Clay, Ceorge Kiser and Morgan Lewis. 
These and a few noble brethren and sisters began worship in an old 
plank stable, sitting just behind the present church. Since then the 
stable has been taken away. During our services the people would 
hold their umbrellas to protect themselves from the rains. I will say 
here, that while in this age of freedom and intellectual progress, look- 
ing back to those days of infancy of the Paris church, seeing how God 
has guided and blessed her and wiped from the country the stain of 
slavery which kept us from worshiping according to the Bible, in 
the midst of this great change in the affairs of church and State, I can 
say that "the people that sat in darkness have seen a great light." 

It will not do to pass by the beginning of the Paris church without 
telling how the present compares with the past. Like the Savior, we 
began with a few, but out of that few many have come forth. In 
coming up through those years of struggle, many that started with me 
in the journey have fallen asleep in Christ and their bodies are sleeping 
in the grave, waiting the sound of the "trump of God." But since 
it is a fact a number of our brave soldiers have fallen from the field, 
there yet remain a number of veterans that sit with me in Zion and speak 
of the days when there was no colored Baptist church in Paris. Truly 
the Lord has been with us. VVe went on worshiping in the stable until 
we built a small house of worship. Finding that this would not 
accommodate us we tore it down and rebuilt, putting up the present 
building. I think w-e organized with fifty members. The church at 
that time being small they paid me $8 50 ])er trip from Maysville to 
Paris; and $6 50 of that I paid as my fare on the stage and fifty cents 
for two meals, one going and coming. I preached on in this way until 
the war, when they, seeing my necessities, agreed to pay me $29 i 5 
per month, which price I have been getting since. .A.s I was not a slave 
I had some difficulty in traveling. Frequently I would be riding among 
slaves that were hand-cuffed going south. The " negro traders" and 
other persons would ask me : 



14 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



"Boy, where are you going?" 

I would tell them to Paris. 

"What for?" continued they. 

Said I: "To preach." 

" Does your master allow you to go from Maysville to Paris to 
preach?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"To whom do you belong?" 

" I belong to Mr. Green." 

" He must be a very good man." 

Said I : " He is sir; a very good man." 

The explanation of my belonging to Mr. Green is this: That I 
liad, previous to this, bought myself from my master. I was now my 
own master. The wit comes in the expression, when they had asked 
to whom I belonged, I replied "to Mr. Crreen," meaning myself. 

Another time, when going to Paris, I stopped at the Blue Licks, 
it being watering season, under the control of Mr. Thomas Holiday, 
who said that there were about five hundred persons from the south 
]. resent, and I took dinner there as usual. When I had eaten I paid 
tlie steward and was out waiting for the stage. While standing on the 
steps I heard some one say "boy: boy!" and I turned. Said he : 
"Come here. Did you eat your dinner?" I told him that I did. 
" Who did you pay?" I told him that I had paid the steward. " Go 
and get the money from him." When I turned to go I met the 
steward. He handed Mr. Holiday the money which I had paid him. 
I then came out. He never charged me any more afterward. This 
was the result of being honest. He thought that I had slipped in 
there and eaten without having paid for it. At another time, when 
coming home from Paris, the bridge at the 151ue Licks was burnt down. 
The stage had to ford the river. When we got aqross, and as there 
had been a temporary road cut, in walking up behind the passengers. T 
met two men. One appeared to be drunk. He came up to me and 
collared me. With an oath said he: " W^here are you going?" I 
said nothing as yet. The other man said: " Let him alone, for he is a 
preacher." But, with another oath, he said that he would make me 
speak. I told him to take his hand out of my collar. He did not. 1 
then knocked him about twenty feet backward. This was shortly after 
I had bought myself. 

I will say that I was more of a slave after I bought myself than 
before. Before this I could go many places without interruption, but 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. I 5 



when I became a freeman I could not cross the Ohio river. ( )nce, 
here in Maysville, I was summoned by the court for a witness in the 
trial of liurl and Spriggins. Isaac Spriggins, living with IJilly and 
Nat. Poyntz, had a wife living at Dr. .Shackleford's and so had Burl. 
From some cause Burl and Spriggins disagreed. Spriggins took up a 
small stove griddle and struck Hurl in the head and broke a piece off in 
his head. The Poyntzes, who had him hired, were determined that 
Spriggins should not be hung. On the day of the trial I went to 
testify to Spriggins' character. I told them that when I first 
came to Maysville he was the first to put me in a way of making money. 
"Well," said they, "what do you know of his character?" I told 
them that he was a man with a passion, but if treated right would do 
most anything to assist you. He had often come over and assisted me 
and charged me nothing and 1 have done the same for him. They asked 
me what I knew about Burl.-^^ I told them that I knew nothing of him 
scarcely, but was slightly acquainted with him, but that he was a man 
who drank whisky and that I never had anything to do with him what- 
ever. Another lawyer asked me some question. I told him that I 
knew nothing of him because I never gared to know a man's bad traits 
except in cases of illustration, and that I loved no man better than I 
ought to. They told me to stand aside. 

At this time my wife lived near Mayslick. I used to go out 
Saturdays on the stage and as the stage would never get down till Mon- 
day night I had to walk back. In coming through Washington, on 
several occasions, I was stopped for a runaway. I always carried with 
me a pair of saddle pockets in which I would carry things from Mays- 
ville to my wife and children. Mr. Payton, who was then a negro 
trader, hallooed at me, telling me to stop. I stopped. He asked me 
where I was going. I told him that I was going home. "Where do 
you live?" I told him that I lived at Mr. John P. Dobbyns'. He said 
that he thought that I was a runaway. I told him that I was just from 
my wife. He then asked to whom did my wife belong. I told him 
that she lielonged to Mrs. Sissen. He said he had a great mind to put 
me in jail.t 

" For," said he, •' there was a negro that came along the other day 
and told such a tale as yours, and behold, he was a runaway." 

I told him I did not care if he did put me in jail, "because," said 



•■'It is well to s.iy here that Burl, from effects of the stroke, died. 
t'l he jail was then in Washington, « hich was at that time the County site. 



l6 * THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA.W. GREEN, 



I, " I am tired anyhow and if you can put me in jail I can get a rest." 
1 was tired because I had come a distance of eight miles. -•' 

On another occasion, when coming through Washington, Conk 
Owens stopped me. He said that he believed that I was a runaway 
also. I told him that I wished John P. Dobbyns would publish me in 
Washington so that they all would know me. Saying this I walked on. 
One night I had been but to prayer meeting. At that time there were 
night watches and they were empowered with the authority to whip any 
negro they might catch out after 9 o'clock. Stephen Lee was captain 
of the watch, and him, I knew. I think it was a little after 9, that I 
was coming up the street and they stopped me, asking if I knew that 
it was too late for me to be out. I told them that I knew them and 
would not run, because they would think that I was guilty of some 
act. With this explanation they let me go with threatenings of what 
they would do should they catch me again. I had been up to Sister 
Jennie Marshall's to prayer meeting, as I was carrying on meeting at 
her house once or twice a week. 

Shortly after I joined the Mayslick Church, Alexander Campbell 
and his doctrine had become very prominent and caused considerable 
excitement among the Baptists. Campbell's doctrine was, in substance, 
"read, believe and be baptized." Mr. Campbell and his doctrines 
were met l)y the Rev. William Vaughan,t .who was at that time a very 
distinguished, energetic and prominent Baptist divine. Mr. Vaughan, 
indeed, defended the Baptist Church and faith with such eloquence, 
with Biblical facts and from history, that many considered the doctrine 
of Campbell nothing in his hands. For the benefit of some that may 
desire information on Campbellism, I will insert the following, which 
may be found in the memoirs of Mr. Vaughan, written by his son. In 
speaking of Campbellism, he says: 

1. They, the Reformers, maintain that there is no promise of 
salvation without baptism. 

2. That baptism should be administered to all that say they 
believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, without examination on any 
other point. 

3. That there is no direct operation of the Holy Spirit on the 
mind prior to baptism. 

4. That baptism procures the remission of sins and the gift of the 
Holy Spirit. 



'■'It is eight miles from Mayslick to Washington, and I had come from Mayslick. 1 told him 
that I could very patiently stay in jail till he sent word to Maysville. 
tl have the memoirs of the Rev. Dr. Vaughan in my library. 



WRITTEN BY HIMSF.LK. 



5. That the Scriptures are the only evidence of their interest in 

Christ. 

6. That obedience places it in God's powev to elect to salvation. 

7. That no creed is necessary for the church, but the Scriptures 

as they stand. 

8. That all baptized persons have the right to administer the 
ordinance of baptism. 

The writer continues : These resolutions were sent tf) the South 
lienson Church, Franklin County, Ky., where there was a considerable 
party in favor of Mr. Campbell, and after a lengthy discussion between 
Cieorge Waller on the one side and Jacob Creath, Sr., on the other, 
they were spread upon the records of the church. The minority was 
so much incensed by this action that they met and with the assistance 
of Jacob Creath, Sr., and his ne])hew, Jacob Creath, Jr., constituted 
themselves into another church. The majority regarding this matter as 
schismatic, at their regular meeting in February, 1830, unanimously 
excluded them from the Baptist Church, at South Benson. 

This is sufficient proof as to the origin of Campbellism. When 
the Baptists and Reformers split at Mayslick, Asa Runyon, Levi Vin- 
camp.and Berry Dobbyns at this time used to preach (they were only 
elders of the church and not preachers) that if any man believed that 
Jesus Christ was the son of (iod and the Savior of sinners to come 
along and be baptized. They also used to administer the supper. 
This is the begining of Campbellism. I might say in closing this that 
Campbellism ever since its birth, has been met by our Baptist ministers 
very christianly and logically — and to-day though they have strayed 
from home, yet their mother, the Baptist Church, will accept them at 
any time. 

While in a protracted meeting here in Maysville 1 was attacked 1)\ 

Mr. O for keeping, as he said. Lite hours. He afterward said that 

he did not mind the late hours so much as he did the hallooing of the 
people on the street. He said that I had always broke u]) in reasona- 
ble time. I then answered him. I told him that he reminded me of 
Paul and Silas, when the woman had followed them for days. Paul 
being grieved turned and commanded the evil spirit to come out of her. 
The masters, seeing that the hope of their gain was gone, had them put 
in prison, and when they brought them out to the magistrates said 
"These men do exceedingly trouble our nation, being Jews." I said; 
" We are Baptists. This is why we trouble you." And further, I told 
him that he reminded me of a fox that was at his devilment and got his 
tail cut off and in order not to be disgraced, called the rest of the foxes 
and got them all to cut their tails off, and when he did this his devil- 
ment was hid. 



CHAPTER III. 



AT one time the Rev. Mr. Fisher protracted a meeting here in the 
Methodist church for about six weeks. At the close of the 
meeting, having been very successful, he said that all who 
wanted to remain members of the Methodist Church could do so and 
those that wanted to be Baptists could be the same. 

The following ministers have been pastors of the white Baptist Church 
since I have been in Maysville: Rev. Walter Warder, Rev. Gilbert Mason, 
Rev. Thomas G. Keen, Rev. W. W. Gardner, Rev. Joseph W. War- 
der, D. I)., Rev. George Hunt, Rev. Henry Ray, Rev. J. M. Ben- 
nett, Rev. F. W. Stone, Rev. A. W. Chamliss, D. 1)., Rev. J. M. 
Frost, D. D., Rev. George Varden, Ph.D., Rev. S. L. Helm, D. D., 
Rev. J. K. Pace and Rev. R. B. Garrett. 

At this time, the Baptists had no regular preacher, and I would 
frequently visit the Presbyterian Church (white.) ( )n one occasion, the 
Rev. R. C. Grundy, pastor in charge, after concluding his discourse, 
said that he was authorized by the Synod of Kentucky to open his 
church once a month for the purpose of preaching to the colored peo- 
ple of Maysville. This of course would prevent us from having meet- 
ing. One of the white churches would be opened each Sabbath for 
the express purpose of preaching to the colored people. Henry John- 
son, a colored Methodist preacher, had gone to Cincinnati on account 
of the " Fugutive Slave Law," and had returned to Maysville again on 
a visit to see his father, who lived in the town of Washington. Mr. 
Grundy, the Presbyterian preacher, said this way of suffering preach- 
ers to come from Cincinnati and to go up on that hill and preach 
to the colored people would not do, " for," continued he, " who knows 
what they are preaching into them?" Andrew Thomas, another Metho- 
dist, Harry Smith and myself were sitting in the gallery of the church 
listening to Mr. Grundy's remarks. At the close of the meeting, when 



WRITI'EN BY HIMSELF. 1 9 



we had come out, 1 said to Thomas and Smith: " We ought not to 
stand such expressions as Mr. Cirundy made this morning. We shonld 
meet and write him a letter and let him know that what he said is not 
true." So they agreed to my proposition to write him a letter contra- 
dicting what he (Mr. Grundy) had said in the puli)it concerning our 
people. We agreed to do so the next week. When the time came 
both of them backed down. I then told them that I would write to 
him, if I lost all my reputation afterward. I went to Mr. J. M. Stock- 
ton, who was our Commission Clerk, and who also did all of my writ- 
ing. By the way, he was a gentleman. I told him that after 
supper I wanted him to write for me a letter. He said that 
when he had finished eating he would do so. He got read) 
and began writing; when he had written awhile, he stoi)|)ed and 
told me that he was afraid to write that l)ecause they knew his 
handwriting. He then asked what I was going to do with it, and if 1 
was going to put it in the postoffice. I told him that 1 was not, and 
that I was going to give it to Mr. Grundy from my hand and tell him 
what it was. Upon this proposition, he wrote it and sealed it up. The 
Courthouse had just been built and Mr. Grundy had obtained it for the 
purpose of preaching to the colored people, as he had said. 1 went 
down in town and met him on Third street, near the Courthouse. J 
was watching for him anyway. Jerry Anderson had a chair carrying 
it into the Courthouse for Mr. (jrundy to sit in. When Mr. Grundy 
came up, 1 spoke to him and told him that I had a letter that 1 was 
going to give him and wished him to read it and give me an answer to 
it. I gave him the letter and left him. I never received an answer 
and he never preached to the colored people any more on tliat line. 
He said afterwards that he never knew that we had a house of worship 
and then we were worshiping in the old frame church which stands be- 
hind the new. So this was the last of the white churches being oi)ened 
in which to preach to the colored people. 

When Palmer, of Louisville, was giving out passes, he sent 
an agent here with the authority to give passes to any that desired. 
My daughter Amanda, who was owned by Mr. John C. Reid. went to 
the agent, got a pass and came home to me. .\ day or two afterwards 
Mr. Reid came to my house. He told me that I must send Amanda 
home, and that I was harboring slaves. I told him that I would not do 
any such thing. He then turned and went out. The next morning he 
came again with his son and asked me the same (questions as before. I 
still contended that I would not send her back. He said no more but 



20 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



went and got out a warrant for me for "harboring slaves." I em- 
ployed Mr. Sulser as the lawyer for me. At the appointed day for 
trial I came up. When the examination of witnesses was finished Mr. 
Reid's lawyer made a speech. When he got through the judge told 
my lawyer that it was useless for him to speak, for his mind was already 
made up that I should pay the damages, which were $30. The Sheriff 
came to me and asked whether I had any money with which to pay my 
fine. I told him that I had none. He then asked who I would get to 
go my security. I told him " Nobody." He then told me that I must 
go to jail. I told him very well that I would go and tell Mr. Grant to 
put me in and he needed not to go with me. I left the Sheriff by the 
Courthouse, and when I got a little beyond the Presbyterian Church, 
he said "O d — n it, come back." 

I came back and we went up into the Courthouse together. When 
we had been there a little time, he went to some one and whispered, I 
told them that the whole thing was rascality, a cheat and fraud. They 
then told me that I might go home. I went to Mr. Larrel, the head 
of the Bureau, and told to him the whole case. He told me to go back 
and get my lawyer to write the proceedings of the trial. I asked Mr. 
Sulser, the lawyer, what he would charge to write out the proceedings 
of het trial. He told me $5. I told him to go ahead and write them. I took 
them to Captain Larrel and he sent them to Louisville to General Palmer. 
I do not think they were gone over two days before they came back 
forbidding them to touch anything that I owned. Captain Larrell told 
me to stand on the street that I might see the Sheriff and if he said any- 
thing to me, that I must send him to him. I went to the place 
designated. The Sheriff saw me and called me to him. I went to 
hnn. He asked me if I had that money yet. I told him "No sir, I 
have not." I told him that Captain Larrell desired to see him. He 
asked me what Captain Larrell knew about it. I told him that I did 
not know, but he told me to tell you. He went and Captain Larrell 
forbid him touching anything of mine. He told him to go and see 
Reid and try and get him to compromise with me. He went and saw 
Reid and came back. I was still on the street, for I knew what was 
going to be done. The Sheriff" seeing me, told me 1 had better go 
around and see Reid. I got Brother William Rudd, who is a consist- 
ant member of my church in Maysville at present, and went out. 
When I got there Mr. Reid spoke very politely. I returned to him the 
compliment. I told him that I had come to see about my daughter, 
Amanda. He said that he thought that it was settled, but that he con- 
cluded to relinquish the principal providing that I would pay the cost. 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 21 



1 told him that I would have to go to the Courthouse and find what the 
cost was. The cost was $7. Before 1 paid I went to see Captain 
Larrell. He told me that if I were to carry it to the United States 
Court I might get justice done me there. But the prejudice was so 
great here against our people that if he were I, he would pay the cost 
and have nothing more to do with it. I did so and the case was dropped. 
One morning very early I heard a noise at the door, and upon hearing, 
I went to the door. I opened the door, and behold ! there stood my 
daughter Maria with a bundle of clothes lying near her. I asked her 
what was the matter. She said that she had left home and was not 
going back any more. I told her to come in. Mrs. Dobbyns, finding 
that she had gone, sent for me to come down there. I went down ac- 
cording to request. When I got there she told me that I must send 
Maria home. I told her I would do no such thing, but if Maria wanted 
to come she could do so. Then said they if she does not she will have to 
leave the state. I told them very well; I would never send her back. 
George Ore, her son-in-law, went down to the boat with us. When we 
got to the river the Captain of the ferry-boat would not permit her to 
cross because Ore did not own her. Mr. Ore had been instructed by 
Mrs. Dobbyns to take Maria and send her across the river. The cap- 
tain told him if he would go back and get permission from the city 
Mayor that he would take her over. In coming from the river he was 
so angry that he replied that he wished every negro was in hell. When 
we had gotten over the river, in passing by a warehouse, Dr. Moore, of 
Aberdeen, who was a Republican and a good man, saw us and came 
out from the warehouse and asked what was the matter. I told him 
that my daughter Maria got her clothes and came home and they told 
her that if she did not come back she would have to leave the state. 
The doctor told us to wait. He went down to Mrs. Dennis, his daugh- 
ter, and told her_,to''keep Maria until I could get a place for her. 

Caroline, another of my daughters, belonged to Robert Andrews. 
She wanted to leave but was afraid. A squad of soldiers went there 
and got her. 1 went down and took her to Portsmouth, O. From 
there I took the train and went up to Jackson, about twenty miles above 
Portsmouth. I left Caroline with her sister Charlotte. 



CHAPTER IV. 



ONCE upon an occasion I preached upon the subject of " Bap- 
tism."' And as the Methodists were opposed to us having the 
church, some of them told Mr. Grundy that Mr. Mason, who 
was then pastor of the white Baptist Church, had been to our church 
and preached on baptism. But the statement was not true. Mr. 
Grundy accepted an invitation from the Methodists to preach for them, 
intending to answer Mr. Mason, of whom it was said that he preached 
in our church. He made an appointment. When the time came I 
went to hear him answer Mr. Mason.* When he had concluded his re- 
marks he read a hymn and gave it to Robert Lawson who, being unable to 
sing it, handed it to Jerry Anderson. Jerry being in the same fix as Lawson, 
gave it to me and I sang it. When he had dismissed the people I called his 
attention to the commission. I told him that I understood the commis- 
sion to be : "Go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature ; 
he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved." And that I wanted 
him to tell me whether or not I was right. He said that he concurred 
with me most heartily, and besides that he never admitted to the com- 
munion table any unbaptised person. When I came out the congrega- 
tion said had I not spoken I would have bursted. 

Henry Lee was then sexton of the white Presbyterian Church, of 
which Mr. Grundy was pastor. At night Mr. Grundy preached, and 
also told Mr. Lee, the sexton, that he was told that it was not Mr. 
Mason that preached the sermon on baptism, but it was Green. "I 
will not preach for those negroes any more." Mr. Grundy had been 
much mistaken about the preacher of that sermon, for it was I myself. 
About this time Mr. Frost was holding a meeting in the white Baptist 
Church, of which I was sexton. It was in the winter season. Then I 
generally sat below to attend to the fires. Mr. Mason, the pastor, had 

-It was not Mr. Mason that had preached the sermon on baptism but it was I. 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 23 



gone to the country to marry a coui^le. There was a gentleman that 
came up to join the church. Mr. Frost said: "Friend, tell us your ob- 
ject in coming forward." Said he: "I want to join the church." 
" Do you love the people of God?" "Yes, as far as I can see them." 
At this time, Mr. Kirk, a deacon, told Mr. Frost to postpone his ad- 
mittance until the pastor came, which, he said, would be the next night. 
Mr. Frost then asked the gentleman if he would be there the next night. 
He said: "No, if you don't take me now I will never be here any 
more." I was sexton nearly sixteen years and I never saw him there 
any more. 

T was very anxious to get a set of silver spoons. 1 will say in the 
outset that the way I obtained them I scraped them up off the floor. 
One year there was a failure in the crops. In the fall the people drove 
their hogs to the mountains and fed them on the "mast." As I was 
living in the "commission house," the following year we bought up a 
great deal of bacon. The river fell so that it was impossible to ship 
anything, and buying so much bacon that in order to place it all we had 
to pile it up about six feet high. The weight of this pressed out so 
much oil we would put down sawdust to keep it from running over the 
floor. Every morning my work was to change the old sawdust and put 
down new. In looking at it I found that there was much grease in it. 
The summer being hot and dry I wondered if there was not some way 
by which that grease could be gotten out. Thinking a while, I got an 
empty nail keg, filled it full of greasy sawdust and turned it bottom up- 
wards on two sticks across a kettle. I kept on in this way until I got 
nearly a barrel of grease. Mr. Ford, a soap-maker, who sold his soap 
in our warehouse, came in one day and I showed it to him. He told 
me to send it to the soap factory. I did so and he sent me soap to the 
amount of $37. I cashed it to the warehouse, which paid me the amount 
named above. I took the $37 to the silversmith, Mr. Boyd, and told 
him to make for me a half dozen dessert spoons and the same number 
of tea spoons. Mr. Boyd did as I requested. I have the spoons to-day. 
You can now see my reason for saying that I scraped my silver spoons 
from the floor. At another time when we had received 500 or 600 
kegs of nails, and in rolling them from the gangway of the boat they kt 
five of them fall into the river. The warehouse would not receive them 
in this condition. So they told me if I would clean and dry them they 
would give me $1 per keg. 1 got my kettle in which I had the grease 
before. After studying awhile, I took it out into the back yard and 
built a big fire under it. When it got hot I put the wet nails into it. 



24 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



putting at the same time a little cold water with them. When I took 
them out they were just like they were before they had fallen in the 
river. I was not over an hour cleaning five kegs. I went in and told 
them that I was through with the nails. Some of them did not believe 
me until they went out and saw. When they saw it was so they gave 
me $5. z\fter this some of them at the warehouse told me that they 
would give me twenty-five cents per dozen for all the rats I could catch 
there. Indeed the rats were bad there. I went up in the third story 
and studied a plan upon which to work. I made me some old-fash- 
ioned triggers and set them baited with hemp seed and dried beef. 
Sometimes of mornings I would go up there and would find eight or 
nine rats. In this way I would catch so many that they got tired of 
paying for them. 

By this time the emancipation of the colored people by President 
Lincoln had added to my family three more of my children. My wife 
had lost an eye from a spell of sickness that she had when a slave. She 
could only use one hand, in order to pay for my house and clothe my 
family I must, of necessity, get to some trade. I by some chance did 
some work for Mrs. Arthur Berry. When I was through she told me 
that I must whitewash her kitchen, yard fences and outhouses. I told 
her that I knew nothing about whitewashing. She told me to get the 
lime and she would show me. I did so and she showed me as she 
said. When I was through she paid me just as if I had been an old 
whitewasher. By this I saw I could make money. I next did some 
whitewashing for Mr. Shultz, a very prominent citizen of Maysville. I 
did a great deal for him — was there over a month. He had a receipt 
from Washington City for whitewashing — to make all colors. When I 
got through he gave it to me. I then fell in company with Mr. James 
Smith, a painter. I would frequently work with him. I learned a 
great deal of the trade. In going around to whitewash I would get hold 
of many chairs that needed bottoms. As cane bottoms were not so 
much in fashion as now most of the ladies preferred "shuck" bottoms. 
I would gather a number of chairs that needed bottoms. My four girls, 
my son and myself would at times be working on a chair apiece. The 
regulir price for a " shuck" bottom was fifty cents. In this way, with 
my four children, 1 would make $3 per day. I then bought me a set 
of shoemaker's tools. I would fix my family's shoes. By this I learned 
[he trade very well. I kept on till I could cut and make shoes. I 
learned hew to make brooms also. People in the country would bring 
me their broom-corn and I would make brooms "one half for the 



WRITTEN BV HIMSELK. 25 



Other." I also bought a set of carpenter's tools. 1 tried, as the saying 
is, to be a "jack of all trades." Shortly after this, when in Paris, 1 
learned that a great many colored peojjle had been driven from their 
masters and had come to Paris for protection. A great many crowded 
into an old stable rented to them at $io per month. 1 went in there 
and saw a cooking stove and saw that they used the hole in the stable, 
from which the horse could get light, for a chimney. 

Samuel H. Clay had a field to sell — the spot where Claysville is 
now. He fenced it in and wanted to make of it a shipping pen. The 
city would not con.sent. He then ran it off in lots of seventy-five by 
sixty feet. At this time Elder Henry Lighter was pastor at the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church. Mr. Clay finding that the city objected to him 
making of it a shipping pen, determined to sell the lots to the colored 
people. He sent a proposition to Mr. Lighter and he in turn sent it 
back to Mr. Clay, with the expression that his business was to preach 
the gospel and not to attend to political matters. Mr. Clay told me this 
from his own mouth, and it is not hearsay. The following Sabbath being 
my day in Paris Mr. Clay sent for me. I went to see him according to 
request. When I went in and was seated he told me that he had a 
proposition to make to me. He said he had some lots to sell and the 
terms of the sale, are these: That the lots were seventy-five by sixty feet 
and that he would build upon that a cottage, with one door and chim- 
ney, for $500 cash, or $100 down with 6 per cent, interest, and when 
paid for would give the deed. He said that he sent the same proposi- 
tion to Mr. Lighter and he refused it. "And now," said Mr. Clay to 
me, "what do you think of it?" I told him that his proposition was a 
good one and it would suit the necessities of my people at present. And 
furthermore, I told him that I thought it as much my duty to look after 
the interests of my people as to preach the gospel, for that to some ex- 
tent is a part of the gospel. 

"Well," said Mr. Clay, "here is the proposition and if your peo- 
ple agree to it, tell them to meet me on the lot at 10 o'clock to-morrow." 

When I had finished preaching on Lord's day I told my congreg;Uion 
why 1 thought they should accept Mr. Clay's proposition, and the whole 
church voted to meet him on the lot Monday morning. By 12 o'clock 
Monday Mr. Clay had sold fifty or sixty lots. So I was the first to put 
the colored people of Paris in the way of purchasing to themselves 
property. For my influence in this matter Mr. Clay presented me, by 
my own choosing, a nice hat. He told me to go to the store and pick 



26 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



out such a hat as I wanted, and I did so. You can judge that it was 
a good one. 

In 1864 I left home with the intention of going to Louisville. I 
got as far as Cincinnati. Elder Shelton, being in a series of meetings, 
would not consent for me to leave. I staid with him a week. The 
people of Cincinnati were so well pleased and the meeting seemed to be 
in such good prospects that they contended that I should stay longer. 
By so doing I was delayed in my trip to Louisville. When I got to 
Louisville Brother Adams said that he had been looking for me on 
nearly every boat. I staid some considerable time with him and left 
for home. At this time I was beginning to be prominent among the 
ministers of the state. My first associates as ministers were Charles 
Threlkeld, of Maysville ; London Ferrel, of Lexington ; Henry Adams, 
of Louisville; George W. Dupee, of Paducah; Henry Green, of Dan- 
ville ; Matt. Campbell, of Richmond ; Henry Evans, of Lexington ; R. 
Lee, of Georgetown ; Isaac Slaughter, of Danville ; R. Martin, of 
Frankfort; Tobias Smith, of Stamping Ground, and (iarrett Reid, of 
Paris. 

In 1865 I was called to Louisville again by the Rev. H. Adams 
for the pupose of organizing a convention to take in consideration the 
propriety of fixing some plan for the education of the rising generation. 
The majority of those I have just mentioned were there for the same 
purpose. When we had go ten there the body was organized into a 
Convention of Colored Baptist Ministers of the State of Kentucky, 
being also the first body of colored Baptist ministers ever assembled in 
the state. The Rev. Henry Adams, pastor of the Fifth-street Church, 
and who was the prime mover in the matter, was made President. 
Brothers Peter Smith, John Thomas and Tabb Smith, of Frankfort, took 
an active part in the proceedings of the convention. In this convention 
we agreed to purchase the "Hill property," at Frankfort, for the pur- 
pose of erecting thereon a college in order to educate aur people and 
get a competent and well educated ministry. We saw from our own 
ability, and looking at the condition of our people just from slavery, 
that our effort to do this was a good one. Brother Adams, possessing 
a more competent education than many of us, was recognized as a kind 
of leader in the matter. When the question of educating the coming 
generation was proposed the convention seemed to have caught a new 
spirit of enthusiasm. We old brethren just out of slavery, many of us 
not having had the privilege to learn, thought it a grand thing to build 
an educational structure upon which, when we were dead, our children 



WRITTEN BY HIMSKLK. 27 



would look with j)ride and call us "blessed." Many of those pioneers 
who were prime movers in the educational work of the race, and who 
used every thing necessary to the advancement of the Baptist cause in 
the state, have fallen to "sleep with their fathers." 

Here and there we can possil)ly find one. What a change in the 
last twenty yearsi No body of men were more anxious or assembled 
more interested in what was before them. I sometimes get vexed at r)ur 
young brethren now in the associations. They will meet at a place on 
Wednesday and stay all the week and nothing done — so many points of 
order and other technical things that might be let alone. The conven- 
tion of that date was not possessed of the amount of brain and education 
as the associations of to-day, but they did business in a more intelligent 
and systematic style tlian our j)resent associations. I speak more exclu- 
sively of the (General Association. The convention knew what it caiiK- 
there to do and the time in which it was to be done. They knew that 
opportunities misused could not be had again. These things pushed us 
to the mark of our great work. There is indeed a great change in our 
delegation of to-day from what there was then. In this age there is en- 
tirely too much levity among the ministers — too much of those things prac- 
ticed which, when viewed from a Christian standpoint, tend to bring about 
what 1 call a "false ministry." In those times, when the delegates 
would become somewhat unconcerned in the work of the convention, 
Rider Adams would tell them to finish business and then play. " Let 
us do our work first, and if there be any spare time afterwards, we will 
use it in play." It was a pleasure to me then to visit and meet my 
brethren. They seemed to be in union about the work they had come 
to perform. Where the spirit of (iod is there is peace and liarmony. 
both (jf purpose and action. If in those days of illiteracy and limited 
education it took the spirit of (iod to bless our work, it takes the same 
now. Having held a pleasant session all the week everybody seemed 
to be pleased with our visit, and when the time came to go home— that 
is for the delegates to return to their respective fields of labor — the peo- 
ple would look as if they carried a burden of sorrow ; and the delegates 
would weep much because of their separation. But now the preachers 
do so much rascality the people are glad when the Association adjourns. 

•As I said, we agreed to purchase the propertv at l-'rankfort. This 
property was composed of about fifty acres of land situated in Frank- 
fort. In order to purchase this property the churches were taxed from 
$50 to $100 each, to be ])aid annually till the debt was paid. I being 
pastor of two churches, Maysville and Paris, would take $ioo; that is, 



28 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



$50 from each church. This shows whether or not I have done any- 
thing for the college. I have been branded as sitting still and doing 
nothing for the college. This money was for the purpose of paying for 
the property. Such churches as Fifth Street, Louisville, and Green 
Street, and First Church, Lexington, would send up $100 for this pur- 
pose. We continued in this way till the property was ours. I said 
then, and do say yet, that the Association made a great big mistake 
when it sold that property. I have no objections to Louisville, but 
simply to save money ; for had the same property been in Louisville I 
would have not been less interested. This was ours and all we had to 
do was to build upon it. We could, in my estimation, very easily have 
done so. But the act has been done and reflection cannot change it. 

This propercy having been sold, the General Association purchased 
the present property in Louisville, and five or six years ago opened a 
school with the Rev. W. J. Simmons, DT)., President. Dr. Simmons 
has been of use to the Baptists of the state. He is a clear-headed, in- 
fluential and progressive little man. He will do the Baptist cause much 
good. He deserves much credit for what he has done in the last six 
years to cultivate our young men and women. Ciod grant that the 
university under his care may do much good; that it will not be long 
until there shall have gone forth from the walls men and women quali- 
fied for any good work. 

The second Baptist Convention met with the Baptist Church of 
Frankfort. The third Baptist Convention met with the First Baptist 
Church of Lexington. I preached the introductory sermon from the 
fifteenth chapter of the Book of Exodus, and the eleventh verse. In 
this convention the name was changed to that of General Association of 
Colored Baptists of Kentucky. As this is not intended to be a history 
of the colored Baptists of Kentucky I shall be obliged to leave the 
meetings and proceedings of our Associations. I would be glad to 
speak of each annual session from its organization to the present but my 
memory will not allow it. In 1855 I visited the Rev. Henry Adams 
again. ' I staid with him three weeks. The meeting resulted in many 
converts. The Sunday night he baptized I concluded to leave for 
home. Monday morning I came down from my room with the inten- 
tion of leaving for home. Elder Adams met me at the steps and asked 
if I were crazy. I told him that I was going home. He told me that 
I was not going, for he wanted me to preach at night for him again. 
He had given me $30. I considered the matter and concluded to stay 
and preach. I preached for him at night as requested. After preach- 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 29 



ing he told me to come down on the platform, that he wanted them to 
understand that he had labored with me in more satisfaction than any 
other minister he ever did labor with. He told the congregation that 
he had kept me from going home and all that wished to give me any- 
thing for staying to come forward and put it into my hands. I think 
they gave me $b and over. At another time I visited the Green-street 
Baptist Church. Elder Shanks, I think, was preaching for them. The 
church was in a litde difficulty about something which I do not now re- 
member. I recollect helping him in trying to settle it. I would fre- 
quently visit the Rev. Henry Adams after the first time. Elder Adams 
died in Louisville about fourteen years ago — I think it was in November 
of 1873. He was a fine Christian gentleman — always willing and ready 
for any good work which would be of use to the Baptists and the race 
generally. The Rev. Andrew Heath survives him as pastor and shep- 
herd of the flock of God. O, for more such men! 

On one occasion I rode from Paris to Maysville, sitting in the 
stage with two gendemen who were discussing the ' ' Foreknowl- 
edge of God." They had been talking on the subject for some 
time. One of them turned to me and said, very politely: "Old man, 
are you a preacher?" I told him I went for that. He said that he 
wished to ask me a question. I told him that I had no objections 
whatever. He proceeded then with his question : 

" When God made Adam and put him into the garden did he know 
that Adam would sin?" 

I told him "Yes." 

"I want you to tell me why God let Adam sin and then punished 

him?" 

This is the answer that I gave him : ' ' God never made Adam a 
slave, but a free agent." 

I do not think that before this I had once thought of the subject. 
I visited Paducah to assist the Rev, G. W. Dupee in a meeting. While 
1 was there many were added to the church — I do not remember the 
exact number. DuKing the days of slavery I was frequently invited by 
the white folks to preach the funerals of their dead slaves. But the 
law would not suffer it without some white person present. I fre- 
quentlv had as many whites in my audience as colored. =i^ 

The church at Washington, which was built by Mr. George Orr. 
got in debt and was unable to pay it. Mr. Orr told me that if I did 



••■This should have been mentioned before, but I do not think it out of pl.-ice to mention just 
here. 



3° 



THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



not go to Washington and raise him $30 he would sell the church to the 
Irish. I took my church and went up there and raised the money and 
paid, the debt and they were bothered no more. I also took up the 
first money for the Lewisburg Baptist Church, of which the Rev. C. 
Davis, of Cynthiana, is pastor. In 1872 Brother Milton Foster put 
into my hands $6 85 for the purpose of buying a lot. In 1873 the 
sexton of the Lewisburg Church gave me $1, which I held till the next 
year. I chartered the train and took my church out to Lewisburg and 
took up a reasonable sum of money. I put this money into the hands 
of Brother Thomas Calvert. Brother Calvert held it till the lot was 
purchased. So I took up the first money in order to build the church 
at Lewisburg. They have a good hou.se of worship and number about 
sixty-five. A little before this 1 induced the Rev. L. C. Natas to go 
out in the region of Mayslick. The church there had been under 
Elder John Marcum. But during the war it had gone back considera- 
bly. Elder Natas went there and began a meeting. He preached on 
the farm of Mr. Shanklin till he took in a certain number of converts. 
When I heard this Dr. Helm, Elder Bagby and myself met in council 
and ordained Brother Natas to the gospel ministry. The Rev. Dr. 
Helm preached the sermon of ordination. I then went out to Mr. 
Shankhn's and preached for Elder Natas also. The following Sabbath 
Elder Natas baptized. He went to Mayslick and preached there 
awhile and built a church. During the building of that and making the 
contract with the carpenters they disagreed. He then locked up the 
house and came after me. I appointed a day and took my church up 
there and took up enough money to get the house opened. Every 
since they have been going on under the pastorates of Rev. L. C. 
Natas, the Rev. D. B. Green and the Rev. R. Strauss, respectively. 

.^bout this time Elder Natas began preaching in Sharpsburg. 
W'hen he had preached there awhile I went up and organized a church 
of which the Rev. G. W. Canada, of Mt. Sterling, is pastor. About 
the same time I organized a church in Mt. Sterling. I also assisted the 
Rev. Thomas Taylor, of Clintonville, the Centreville Baptist Church, 
under the Rev. Thomas Cant, of Lexington, and Leesburg Church, 
under the Rev. J. H. Lewis, now of Washington, Ky. 

In January, after the emancipation of the slaves, I told the breth- 
ren that the Lord had in reservation for us a blessing. I then expressed 
my feelings in starting a series of meetings. We began an intjuiry 
meeting, which lasted a week. Everything went on very agreeably til! 
I went to Paris and came back. I felt as soon as I came back that 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 3 1 



there was something wrong in the church. .So the next night Brother 
William Smith made a statement that he was greatly grieved at the 
manner in which Brother Alex. Stewart had treated him Sunday morn- 
ing, and Brother Smith told the conversation that passed between them. 
Brother Stewart acknowledged that he did so and that it was wrong. 
They then made up and gave each other his hand. So the meeting 
went on, 1 having no help, but did the preaching myself. And labor- 
ing very hard, 1 found myself weakening. I went to Paris and secured 
the assistance of the Rev. Clay, of Xenia, O. He came and preached 
a few nights and gave out. 1 paid him and he went home. The 
meeting closed. I was sick afterwards for some weeks, the physicians 
attending me daily. They put me under the influence of chloroform. 
When they began operating I commenced preaching. My wife and 
children rushed up in the room, supposing that they were killing me. 
I was so ill that my wife wrote to my son Marshall to come home at 
once, that his father was so low that he was liable to die at any time. 
She also sent another letter to the brethren of Paris. Two of thern 
came down. Finding that I was better they turned their visit into a 
l)rayer meeting. Ciod was merciful toward me and 1 was permitted to 
rise again. When 1 had been well a few days we began another meet- 
ing, which resulted in sixty or seventy-five souls. The first baptizing 
succeeding this revival, I baptized in the Ohio river twenty-five; at the 
next, about a week afterwards, fifteen. At other times five and six, 
two, three, &c. Brother Lewis Lightfoot, of Washington, came and 
preached a week. Brother Lightfoot thought, I suppose, that they had 
been joining a little too fast, so finally he preached a sermon to let them 
know if they had been deceived in their profession of faith in Christ. 
'I'he congregation gave him I7 and a few cents and he left and never 
came back any more. 



CHAPTER V. 



SOME time after this I went to the Courthouse to listen to a speech 
dehvered in regard to the election and my race especially. 
The speaker was a Democrat. In the course of his speech he 
said that he did not believe the negro was human; that he was of a 
species between the baboon and the monkey; that God had foreordained 
that he should be a slave. He then tried to substantiate his pernicious, 
cowardly and mean statements. He asked what the negro had in- 
vented. He said nothing but an old banjo. Who wishes the negro 
sitting in their parlor beside their daughters? or, to use the express 
words of the speaker: "How would it look for a great, big, black 
negro buck sitting beside your daughter?" These are his exact words. 
A few nights afterwards the Repubhcans had a kind of jubilee. I was 
sitting there listening very contentedly, when Mr. Wadsworth came 
and told me that I must go up and make a speech. I thanked him 
kindly for the invitation and at the same time expressed my inability to 
do so. He insisted that I should go up and say something, if nothing 
more than "I am a Republican, from head to foot." So finally I con- 
cluded to go up with him. When I got up there I thanked, in a brief 
way, the gentleman for the invitation and began my speech by referring 
to the speech of the Democrat previous to that. I told them that I was 
over fifty years old and the next Monday I would be twenty-one.* 

I told them that the Democratic speaker told them the other night 
that I was of a species between the baboon and the monkey. You 
know it is customary for those animals to have tails. Had I a tail next 
Monday I would tjuirl it upon my back and go to the polls and vote 
the Republican ticket. While the crowd was cheering I came down. 



■•'By saying that I would be twenty-one I meant to convey the idea that the next Monday 
would be the first time 1 was recognized as a qualified voter or citizen of the United States. 
Tlie law requires a man to be twenty-one in order to vote. 



WR ITT F.N HV HI.MSKLF. 33 



At another time, when speaking down on Front street, 1 told the 
Democrats that any party that was in favor of a law which made a man 
dishonest I thouglit that party was wrong. 'I'he law, in substanre, was 
tliat no difference how much money I had when a slave, I could nut 
buy myself. The law said further that if any man is a slave he cannot 
buy himself. With $600 in my jjocket I could not buy my own sister 
unless the "bill of sale" was made out in mother's name. She her.self 
was compelled to own slaves to get my sister's freedom. 1 had the 
money to buy myself when I was a slave, but the "bill of sale" was 
made out in my mother's name. The part}- that made this law is dis- 
honest. I told them that there were in Canada men and women. Had 
it not been that such an outrageous and dishonest law existed here those 
men and women would be here to-day. At this saying I concluded 
and left. 

I was chosen by the colored citizens of this place to represent them 
in the first convention of colored men ever assembled in the state. 
This convention met in Lexingion in the year 1866. It is not my in- 
tention to make you think I am a politician. Those who know me can 
judge of the fact. Politics and I are not related, only s') fir as it be- 
comes my duty to advise my people to look to their own interests. 
That convention was a grand gathering ot colored men just from bond 
age. It held a session of three days. For the benefit of some who 
wish to know its object in meeting I will insert here a synopsis of its 
proceedings. This may benefit some young man in his efforts to be- 
come famous in politics. I will present the resolutions and the grand 
memorial to Congress. A certain paper, from which I cut this, spoke 
as follows : 

The following are the remainder of the proceedings of tlie Colored 
People's Convention that closed on Thursday: 

Resolved, That we appoint the Hon. M. C. Johnson. Willard Davis 
and William Brown to represent us at Frankfort and lav before the 
Ceneral Assembly of Kentucky the necessities and retjuirements of the 
colored people. 

Resolved, That we appoint the Hon. W. C. Goodloe and (General 
James Brisbin to represent us at Washington and lay before the Con- 
gress of the United States the necessities and recpiirements of the colored 
people. 

Whf.reas, Several of the journals opposed to the enfranchi.sement 
of the colored man have, from patriotic mc^tives, boldly come forward 
and advocated their rights of testimony in the courts, therefore, 

Resolved, That we tender them our thanks in this matter of advo- 
cating the cause of justice. Also be it 

Resolved, That the Louisville Courier, Lexington Observer, Lexing- 



34 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



ton Statesman, Frankfort Commonwealth and all the Republican journals 
that have so no nobly stood up for the right have our respect and 
warmest thanks. 

Resolved, That we authorize Willard Davis, Dr. A. M. Davidson 
and W. J. Butler additional representatives of our claims in Congress. 

The following were elected as officers of the convention: 

President — W. J- Butts. 

Vice President — D. V. Higdon. 

Secretary — R. W. T. James, of Frankfort. 

Assistant Secretary — V. H. Gibson, of Louisville. 

Treasurer — James Turner, of Lexington. 

Sergeant-at-arms — Henry Scroggins, of Lexington. 

The Committee on Education made their report, as follows: 

Having long felt the need of education among the 4,000,000 of 
freedmen of the south, and having learned that such a need is being 
met by a National Reform Association, conducted by the leading col- 
ored men of the country, its headquarters being at the city of New 
Albany, therefore. 

Resolved, That we hail with delight and heartily commend its aims 
and purposes to our citizens throughout the land. 

This was the memorial to Congress adopted : 

To the Honorable House of Reprcsentath'es and the Senate of the 
United States in Congress Assembled: The colored people of Kentucky, 
through their delegates in convention assembled, most respectfully peti- 
tion your honorable body to grant us the right of suffrage. Your peti- 
tioners beg leave to call your attention to the fact that they are not 
allowed to" testify in the courts of the commonwealth against white 
persons, and that, in consequence, many persons who commit murder, 
rape, arson and all manner of outrages upon the colored people are 
permitted to go unpunished. Your petitioners would further say that 
they are now and ever have been loyal to the Government of the United 
States ; more than 30,000 of their brothers and sons enlisted in the late 
war; that they are peaceable, law-abiding citizens, who pay taxes as 
other people, but on the account of the color of their skins, are denied 
political rights in the government which they support. Your petitioners 
would further say that inasmuch as the constitution of the United States 
has abolished slavery everywhere within its jurisdiction, so that all con- 
stitutions, laws or regulations growing out of the same are null and 
void; and inasmuch as the same constitution in another provision de- 
clares that no state shall make or enforce any laws which shall abridge 
the privilege or immunities of citizens of the United States; and inas- 
much as Congress is empowered by appropriate legislation to enforce 
these several provisions, which we believe cannot be done without se- 
curing the elective franchise to citizens of color; and inasmuch as the 
color of our skin did not in the time of war prevent the government 



WRl'I'lKN BY Hl.MSELK. 35 



from claiming our allegiance and causing us to bear arms in its defense, 
and it is a well established principle of just government that allegiance 
and protection go together, the one being the consideration of the other, 
and inasmuch as the Declaration of Independence promises the e(iuality 
of the people, and it is the exjjress duty of Congress under the consti- 
tution to guarantee to every state in the Union a republican form of 
government; and inasmuch as many white persons of no greater degree 
of intelligence than we are allowed to vote in this commonwealth, and 
thousands of them fought against the government in the late war ; and 
inasmuch as we desire to assist the Unionists of the state in electing 
loyal men to office, now, therefore, we do earnestly pray your honora- 
ble body, in such way and manner as it may legally and properly be 
done, to enact such laws or amend the constitution so as to secure to 
every citizen in this commonwealth who may have been a slave, or is 
the descendant of a slave, or by reason of race or color is de])rived of 
equal rights to vote at all elections for members of Congress, for Presi- 
dential electors, for Representatives and Senators of the Legislature of 
the State, for all State, city, town and officers of all kinds, upon the 
same terms and considerations as white citizens, and we pray the bless- 
ings of God upon your deliberations. 

This concludes the address to the United States Congress. The 
convention also sent an address to the General Assembly of Kentucky, 
which was as follows: 

To the General Assembly of the Commomvealth of Kentucky: The 
colored people of the commonwealth of Kentucky, through their dele- 
gates in convention assembled, most respectfully petition your honora- 
ble body to so alter and amend the clause of the statutes as to permit no 
person to be disqualified from giving his testimony in any of the courts 
of the commonwealth, in actions both civil and criminal by reason of 
birth, color or previous condition. We also most respectfully state that 
any and all obligations to this much needed reform are based upon the 
theory that our juries are honest enough to render their verdict to and 
in accordance with the law and the evidence, and that they have intel- 
ligence enough to discriminate between conflicting statements, to detect 
falsehood, to" arrive at the truth of every case and render impartial jus- 
tice between man and man. Unless this theory is true — and no one 
asserts to the contrary — the judiciary system of the state is a failure. 
If true, when applied to white people, it must, by every sound system 
of reasoning, be true when applied to us. To say that a jury of white 
men, upon their oaths are honest enough to do justice between white 
men and intelligent enough to deci^le upon truinfulness of statements 
made to it by such evidence, and, at the saine time too dishonest to do 
justice between a white man and black one and has not intelligence to 
decide upon their truthfulness, is an assertion too absurd for utterance. 
and is an insult to every right minded man; that this is the logical argu- 
ment to be deduced from this our present system. If your juries are 
competent to make their verdicts under the law from the evidence of 
white persons, they are eiiually compet-mt to do so from the evidence of 



36 

black persons. Some may say that we are incompetent to serve as wit- 
nesses in cases where a white person is an interested party, by 
reason of our want of intelHgence or our disregard of truth. We 
deny this most emphatically. The same objections may extend 
to thousands of white persons in this state. Juries almost daily 
render verdicts directly opposite the statement of some wit- 
nesses in whose testimony they have no confidence, and many a white 
man is a witness whose intelligence is no greater than a black man. 
These are matters that should not be urged against a class of witnesses 
white or black. It surely occurs that false testimony escapes alike 
the attention of the court, the jury, the clients and attorneys engaged 
in trial and a rigid enforcement of the law, punishing perjury, will 
protect society from all this of character. Under our law we are compe- 
tent clients and witnesses against each other. In action, both civil 
and criminal, when our own people are interested, in property or life, 
we are citizens of the same common country. Much of the property 
now constituting the aggregate wealth of Kentucky has been acquired 
or improved by our labor. None know better than the citizens of this 
State how we have protected and cared for both the property and hves 
of those of our former owners. Suddenly freed by act of war we were 
mostly thrown upon our own resources, without property or means of 
protecting what little we now have, which is the product of our own toil 
and care. It is larceny to steal it from us; it is murder to feloniously de- 
]jrive one of our people of his life. Is there a member of your honorable 
body who would offer inducement to crime, outrage and lawlessness by 
saying that the white man's property and the white man's life are pro- 
tected under our law, but the property and life of a blackman is 
unworthy of jjrotection and beyond the pale of our law? We hope 
not; but this is what the law now says. We can be despoiled of our 
property, our females may be outraged, our school teachers shot down 
at their desks, our ministers murdered in their pulpits by any person 
lawless enough to do so. The sad history of the past few years must 
convince you that many men, though lawless, live in Kentucky and 
we have no remedy in the courts, if the only witness have African 
blood in his veins, no matter how truthful or intelligent he may be. 
On many of the lonely farms of our state, in the absence of the owner, 
his wife and daughter are the only white persons remaining. His 
property may be stolen, his wife and daughter may be outraged and 
murdered during his absence, in the presence of every colored servant 
on the place, by a white man, and the villian goes unpunished because 
the witnesses are black. We believe that much good will accrue to 
l)Oth races when this right is given to our people. Society will be 
more protected from crime than it is now. We do not expect by our 
rights of testimony to influence wrongfully the action of any court or 
jury, but simply desire the right of any of our people to go before any 
court or jury and testify upon cases of law as any other people. And 
that equal and exact justice may be administered to all, we ask that all 
disqualifications on account of race or color, so far as they apply to 
voting, be removed and that the plaintiffs and defendants in every action, 



WRITTEN BV HIMSELF. 



37 



whether white or black, shall be made competent witnesses with the 
right to testify in their own behalf, subject only to such exceptions as 
are made for white men. For this act of justice to our poor and op- 
pressed race we appeal to you by every consideration of love and right. 
And for your favorable action will pray God's blessing upon your delib- 
erations. 

The Finance Committee reported the receipt of $125 80 to i)ay 
the expenses of the convention and the publication of its proceedings. 
Rev. Q. A. Graham made a very interesting and intelligent address, 
cautioning the delegates w'hen they returned home that they must not 
think their work finished; that the world had its eyes upon them and 
they should keep their eyes open. After Mr. Graham's address the 
convention adjourned. 

During the war, the soldiers being numerous in this part of the 
country, and my son Elisha living at a place where the soldiers fre- 
quently visited, by some cause Elisha was missed from home. The 
people with whom he lived treated him very bad. When the war closed 
I began to make inquiry for him. After many days and nights of sor- 
row for my boy I opened correspondence with Elder Ward Clay, of 
Xenia, O. Mr. Clay searched until he found him. When he had 
found him he wrote me the following letter: 

Xenia, ()., May 19, 1866. 

Elder Elisha Green, Maysvilk, Ky, Dear Sir: At your request 1 
have made inquiry for your boy. By having notices read in the 
churches and schools I have succeeded in finding him. He is six miles 
from Columbus, O. His fare from there to Cincinnati will be .'s;4. If 
he is under twelve years of age it will l)e $3 50. As to my services in 
finding him, whatever you think is right wall be satisfactory to me over 
and above my traveling expenses, which are $3 40. The boy will take 
the first train that is convenient for him, and at Cincinnati the boat 
Magnolia. I cannot say whether he will come this week or next. 
When he arrives you can express the money to me, as I will not be in 
Kentucky for two or three weeks. Send the money to David Green by 
express to Xenia, O. The reason of my not coming sooner is that I 
have a contract to put up a church in Urbana, O., which will take 
about four weeks. As soon as it is done I will be over. Write me on 
receipt of this, addressing me at Urbana, that I may know- that you 
received it. My respects to the brethren and friends in general. 

Very respectful! v yours, &c., Edward Cl.4V. 

According to a resolution passed in the General Association, pro- 
posing that the state be organized into District Associations, the Baptist 
Churches of Maysville, Mayslick and Washington sent delegates in 
order to be organized into what was afterwards known as the "Mt. 



38 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 

Zion District Association." The delegates assembled in Bethel Baptist 
Church, Maysville, in the year 1869. It numbered at that time only 
three churches, viz. : Maysville, Mayslick and Washington. The body 
resolved itself into a permanent organization, with me as its Moderator, 
R. W. T. James, Recording Secretary ; L. C. Natas, Corresponding 
Secretary; Brother William Smith, Treasurer. Rev. R. W. T. James 
wrote the constitution. This session was a very good one, though 
nothing much done. At the second session, in 1870, at Mayslick, Ky. , 
the following churches were represented, with delegates as follows: 
Baptist Church, -of Maysville — Rev. E. W. Green, L. D. Henderson, 
William Smith, A. Stewart, H. Lee, J. A. Taylor and D. Morrison; 
Baptist Church, of Mayslick — Rev. L. C. Natas, William Newton, I. 
Parker, H. Jackson, J. H. Davis, J. Griffith, S. L. Breckinridge, 
Charles Hawkins and J. Middleton; Baptist Church, of Washington — 
H. Gibbs. H. Barnes, C. Anderson and A. Lawson. I called the 
meeting to order, read and sang and offered prayer. A Committee on 
Credentials of members was appointed; also a Committee on Permanent 
Organization. The following officers were elected: Rev. E. W. Green, 
Moderator; Rev. L. C. Natas, Recording Secretary; Charles Gray, 
Corresponding Secretary ; Henry Jackson, Treasurer. 

At 8 o'clock p. m., by appointment of the previous year, I preached 
the introductory sermon from Acts wzg — "We ought to obey God 
rather than man." Thus passed another pleasant session of the Mt. 
Zion District Association. The next annual session of this body was 
held with the Baptist Church of Washington. By this time another 
church was added to our list, making four, viz.: the Baptist Church of 
Sharpsburg, Ky. The same officers were re-elected, excepting Corre- 
sponding Secretary and Treasurer. By appointment of the session 
Rev. S. Jones, of Ohio, delivered the introductory sermon from Second 
Timothy, ii: 1 9-20. Subject: " Baptist doctrines from the Bible." The 
fourth annual session of this body met with the Bethel Baptist Church, 
of Maysville. By this time four new churches were added to the list, 
viz.: Paris, Cynthiana, Scott's Station and Covington. I called the As- 
sociation to order and conducted devotional exercises. Rev. John 
Johnson, of Cynthiana, led in prayer. The same officers were re-elected 
excepting Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer. Brother L. D. 
Henderson was elected Corresponding Secretary; Brother William 
Smith, Treasurer. By appointment of the body Rev. John Johnson, of 
Cynthiana, preached the introductory sermon from Eph. iv:5 — "One 
Lord, One Faith, One Baptism." I was appointed as Corresponding 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 39 



Messenger to General Association, which met in (Jeorgetovvn the fol- 
lowing August. It is not my intention to write a history of Mt. Zion 
1 )istrict Association, but to mention those things so far as I am related 
to them. This Association continued in this way eleven years, until it 
l)ecame strong and influential in eastern Kentucky, and then it consoli- 
dated with the Elkhorn Association, of which 1 shall speak further on. 

While in Paris one morning I was requested by Elder Fisher, of 
ihe .M. K. C'hurch, of Paris, to go with him to the Christian Church; 
that he and Rev. Ayers anticipated a discussion between themselves. 
Being instructed so, I went. When the time came for the discussion 
Elder Fisher was not present. Brother Garrett Lamb was with me. 
Inkier Ayers in his conversation said that "the Baptists believe in the 
'mourners' bench,' and they have no scripture for it. They quote the 
fifth chapter of Matthew to sustain them. But then Christ was ad- 
dressing none but his disciples." T told him he could not pro\e the 
assertion true; that the Scriptures plainly said: "Seeing the multitude, 
he went n\> into the mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came 
unto him ; and he taught them saying." In the conversation that passed 
between us there were many things said. Elder Ayers said that there 
was no jjromise of salvation this side of baptism. In refutation of that 
assertion, 1 pointed him to tenth chapter of Acts, where Cornelius re- 
ceived the "Gift of the Holy Ghost" while Peter was talking to him. 
Then the congregation was dismissed. When I came home I wrote a 
number of pamphlets, after this style, headed: " To the Public." 

"I appear before the public in regard to a religious controversy 
which took place November ii, 1871, at the Christian Church in Paris, 
Ry., between Elder H. M. Ayers and myself. I had no idea of the 
discussion until I reached the church. I have thought it my duty to 
let the public know something about it, as I believe his object was to 
kill me off, but he waked up the wrong passenger. If Mr. Ayers 
wished a discussion why did he not do as I would have done? I would 
have invited him to my room. But I suppose he did not consider me 
worthy, and therefore he thought he would kill me off in the Christian 
Church. But he did not do it. Now, not that I have any unkind 
feeling toward Mr. Ayers, but I will point him not to the New Testa- 
ment only, but to the Old. I will call the attention of the public to the 
word of God. Mr. Ayers asked me a question, and that was if I be- 
lieved that a man was baptized for the ' remission of sins.' I asked him 
if I imderstood him to say that sins were washed away in baptism. I 
told him that I did not. And I shall give him a few passages of Scrip- 
ture. Acts xvi:29 : ' Then he called for a light and sprang in and came 
trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas.' But Paul and Silas did 
not tell him as Mr. Ayers; ' not to do that for that was the way that the 



40 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



Baptists do, and he must not do it; he must get up, it will not do to 
mourn that way.' As Mr. Ayers said, I want you all to read the Bible. 
In Acts xix:6 you will find: 'When Paul had laid his hands upon 
them the Holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and 
prophesied.' But Paul did not baptize them with water. The apos- 
tles did not baptize them over again to receive the Holy Spirit. Peter 
tells us 'that He (God) put no difference between us and them, purify- 
ing their hearts by faith.' Now, I wish Mr. Ayers would do like them, 
and I think he and I would get along better. The Bible says ' if thy 
brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between 
thee and him alone.' But Mr. Ayers reads backwards. He brought it 
before the church first. Now I shall ask him one question : ' Was 
Jesus baptized over?' I think not. If Jesus were baptized over, Paul 
did not do it and our Heavenly Father acknowledges John's baptism. 
But Mr. Ayers will not. I hope Mr. Ayers will read the Bible. Read, 
if you please, the fourth chapter of John. I hope Mr. Ayers is not a 
Pharisee. For 'When, therefore, the Lord knew how the Pharisees 
had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John.' 
Here it is said he made disciples. Will Mr. Ayers tell us how he made 
them? And now I point you to some chapters in the Bible which I 
want you to read. They are these : ' This is my blood of the new 
testament, which I shed for many for the remission of sins.' Read 
the twentieth chapter of John and the twenty-second verse and you will 
not see any water there. " The Bible says 'the blood of Jesus and not 
the water.' I have not called on any of my white brethren to assist 
me in this. But should I, they would. I heard an elder once say that 
if a man fooled you the first time it was his fault and the next dme it 
was your own fault. Elder Ayers will never fool me again in his 
church. May this brief episde find its way to the hearts of many is the 
l)rayer of your unworthy servant, E. W. (tREEN." 

Sometime after this controversy with Elder Ayers the Rev. E. \V. 
Hammond, pastor of the M. E. Church of Paris, protracted a meeting 
in which there were well nigh 400 added to the church. Many of 
these desiring to be immersed or baptized, the church had a pool dug. 
Rev. Hammond baptized some and others he sprinkled. I'he follow- 
ing Sunday I preached in my church at Paris. In the process of which 
I said that baptism by immersion had planted a battery at the M. E. 
Church. I said this because the Rev. Hammond had said there were 
seven ways to baptize. Mr. Hammond was editing a small paper 
called the District Monitor. When I came home I was shown the fol- 
lowing item in his paper: 

There is quite an extensive movement on the part of the younger 
and more progressive members of the Baptist Church in Paris in favor 
of a change of pastors. They want an educated minister. We hope 
their wants may be gratified. Paris needs more light. 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 4I 



There was no truth in that item. The young members of Paris 
church had said no such thing. On my return to Paris, at my next 
regular appointment, I was in company with Brother Plenry Crosse, an 
intimate friend of mine and a meml)er of Rev. Hammond's church, 
and who has since died. I told Brother Crosse that Rev. Hammond 
had published me in his paper. He said that he thought not. I con- 
tended that it was so, when the Rev. Mr. Hammond comes u]). 
Brother Crosse asked him if he said anything concerning me in his 
paper. He said he did publish a litde something about the church of 
which I was pastor. Then I told him that what he had published was 
not true, and that he must correct it. If he did not I would. I came 
home and waited nearly a month for Mr. Hammond to correct the 
statement which he had made. I then wrote the following: 

Once more I ai)])ear before the i)ul)lic for the pur[)Ose of correcting 
some false statements that the Rev. K. W. Hammond, e(lit<ir of the 
District Monitor, has made. 1 will tell him the truth. 1 will write just 
what he put into his little fly-trap. He might have known that he 
could not catch a fool in that, for the Bible says we must become fools 
in order to be made wise. So I say to the editor, Y.. W . Hammond. 
He said: "There is (juite an extensive movement on the part of the 
younger and more ])rogressive members of the Baptist Church in Paris 
in favor of a change of pastors. They want an educated minister. 
We hope their wishes may be gratified. Paris needs mcjre light." 
Well, while we know that is true, the editor takes it on himself to say 
that for the Baptist Church in Paris. I'he church in Paris has never 
said that. And so, Elder, you are not a Bishop over the Baptist Church 
in Paris; and if you are I shall wait until our General .Association 
meets and if our head Bishop, G. W. Dupee, has put you over me, 1 
shall take him down. You have just as much as you can do well. 
There are some men that have a little learning and they are so afraid 
that the people won't know it that they have to kee]) meddling with 
other people's business. I reckon you think that I have been in Paris 
long enough. But you are not the judge. I am thankful that church 
and state are not together; for if they were you would put me into 
your "fly-trap" and kill me. lUit, P"J(ler, I am still in my fort and 1 
hope you will let me stay in Paris this year, if you please. I will try 
and be a good boy and will promise to say just what I please, for I am 
in my fort, and when I am not there 1 have a body-guard to watch 
w'hile I am trying to preach the gospel. {.}od has promised to be with 
me while I am trying to preach the gospel and I shall not mind E. W. 
H. But I think you treated me bad, for I think that all ministers have 
just as much as they can do to attend to their own business. I want 
to say to you. Elder, that you have as many ministers that need educa- 
tion as the Baptists. I think you had better look at home for them and 
put them into your little " fly-trap." I think ymi had better look at 
home first and when you get through come and preach for me a good 



42 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 

gospel sermon for you owe me one. You say: "Paris needs more 
light." Well, that is true. But if you mean false light, I think 
Paris has enough of that light and do not think it advisable for the 
Elder to waste his paper with a fool and that kind of light. If you 
cannot find any truth outside of the Bible I would advise you to look 
inside of it, and there is as much as you need. You gave my church 
in Paris a pretty heavy stroke with your little "fly-trap." Don't you 
know that Christ said "Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be 
called the children of God?" You are a young man and I think you 
would do well to preach the gospel and let others alone. 

And now I will say something about myself. Last winter, when 
I was baptizing in Paris, I said that "Baptism by immersion had 
planted a battery at the M. E. Church." If I did not tell the truth I 
would like to know what it is. You said you did not want it for 
sprinkling or pouring, and that there were seven ways to baptize. 
Well I had just as soon you had said there were a hundred. If you 
are editor of a political paper I must reconsider the matter, and if a 
Christian paper I think you ought to go to the Bible for truth. You 
say that you are an old-fashioned Methodist — a real live member of the 
church. For fear that the Elder may think, like my other friend, that 
is, that I did not write this, I will be good enough to tell him how I 
learnt to write. My young mistress taught me to write when I was 
a slave. Her name was Miss Alice I^obbyns. But it never forced me 
off the track. You don't think the colored people of Paris and the 
south have any sense, because they have never been to college. Why, 
Elder, I did not know that all the books were in college. Brother 
Isaac Williams, who is a gentleman and a Christian, has a book which 
if you will read, you will find that you are not so old as you think. I 
will tell you what page to look on — the sixtieh. You will find that 
fohn Wesley was educated for the ministry and took orders as a priest 
in the Episcopal Church of England while he was still a young man. 
He arrived in the Savannah river in the year of our Lord 1736 and 
he was not converted then. You must read history and then you will 
not be so old as you think you are. And now let me tell you some- 
thing as a friend. The next man you put into your "fly-trap" you 
find out wliere he was raised. But if you can't find anybody but E. 
W. Green put him in and say what you please about him ; you can't 
make matters any worse. You are free and so am I. You know a 
fool won't work. You think I have no sense and you will not mind 
me. As it is wrong to beat a fool, I hope you will let me stay in Paris 
this year. The Baptists in Paris want me this year. But you want 
the Bapti.st Church in Paris to have an educated man. Now, Elder, 
that will do to tell some people, but it will not do to tell sensible folks. 
You might get hurt, dear brother. Stop, if you please. You might 
run afoul of some man and get hurt, but not me. I have no education. 
You promised Brother Henry Crosse and me that you would correct 
the item in your paper and that you would send me a copy, and you 
have not done it. I told you if you did not I would. I never would 
tell falsehoods when i was a slave and I will not now. I have always 



WRITIEN BY HIMSELF. 43 



found it as much as 1 can do to keeyi my own house clean. And now. 
I bring my letter to a close. Yours in Christ, E. W. (Ikkkn. 

The Rev. E. W. Hammond is a fine educated man, t)ut he lacked 
something. He wrote too quick without close thought. Had he 
studied a proposition closely, weighed matters candidly in his mind; 
studied the disadvantages of slavery and its oppositions through which 
the old ministers had come, he would not have put such an item in his 
paper denouncing me as an ignorant i)reacher. But after this we got 
along very well. If it were not that I am writing my own history I 
would not mention it at all. But as it makes an important item in my 
life, being somewhat connected with it, I do not withhold ii from these 
pages. Should the Rev. Mr. Hammond any time after I am dead read 
these lines, he will only laugh and express himself surprisingly at this 
being in history. He will say that he never, when in Paris in charge 
of the M. E. Church, editing a paper, thought once the item written 
by him, touching the Baptist Church and pastor, would be an item of 
history. I will just say, that while in Covington two months ago, at- 
tending the Association, I met Rev. Hammond. We expressed our- 
selves joyfully of tlic j)ast. He is in charge of the large M. E. Church, 
Ninth street, Covington. 

In May of 1875 I went to Louisville as a delegate from here to the 
State Republican Convention. The object of the convention was to 
nominate state officers. When business of the convention was finished 
I came to Paris and staid there till the train left for Maysville. I boarded 
the train at Paris for home. I was sitting at the extreme end behind and so 
was Rev. Preston Taylor, of the Christian Church. When we got to Mil- 
lersburg the bridge gave way, the coupling pin broke and the car that we 
were in fell back, one end on the bridge and the other on 
the abutment. It was so steep that a person could scarcely walk up it. 
I never knew when my leg was broke. When I discovered 
that it was broken one foot was about four inches in the water. 
On the opposite side sat a Methodist preacher who came and 
pulled my leg from under the stove. By this time I had discovered 
that my leg was broken. I lifted my right leg out of the water and 
tried the left, but it appeared as heavy as if there were a log attached to 
it. At this time Mrs. Herrick and daughter were sitting in the car be- 
fore me. Her ankle was fastened and she was [)ulling and screaming. 
i. e., Mrs. Htrrick. I told her that she had better stop; that if her 
ankle was not broken she might break it. T then looked over on tlie 
opposite side and old Mr. Sharp w^as lying flat on his back with the 



44 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



seats on top. of him. He was throwing them up and they in turn falHng 
back. I spoke to him and told him that he was making it worse 
and he stopped at once. I thought that he was dead. Before I left 
Millersburg he came and I told him of it, and he could not recollect it. 
The conductor hearing me talk to Mrs. Herrick and Mr. Sharp told me 
to get up and come out. I told him I could not for my leg was broken. 
He asked me how I knew. I told him that I was holding it together. 
They rushed to me to take me out. They came much excited. I told 
them to stop. They stopped. I told them to take the broken leg and 
])ut over the good one. A white gentleman took hold of the leg just 
where it was broke, and they carried me up to Marshall Wheeler's, for 
Sister Wheeler had said that she wanted me brought to her house. 
They laid me on the bed until the doctors got ready to set it. There 
were seven doctors. They all said that they were going to help set my 
leg. From the shock that I had received from the fall I was 
very cold. The doctors sent some one out to get some whisky. In a 
short time they came with it. A glass of it was sweetened and brought 
to me. I told thtm that I did not want it; that when I died I wanted 
to die sober, not drunk. I had on a new pair of boots. They said 
that ill order to get them off they must cut them. I told them not to 
cut those boots. They wanted to know then how to get them off. I 
told them to raise me up. I held the broken leg until they pulled it 
(jff. The brethren at Paris hearing of my misfortune sent Brother 
(iarrett Lamb to wait on me. Brother Lamb did so like a true Chris- 
tian gentleman. He deserves the credit of the church that sent him, 
the blessing of God and all I can do for him while he lives. While I 
was in Millersburg the citizens of Maysville made up $37 and gave it 
to Lawyer W^adsworth, requesting him to pay me a visit and give it to 
me. Mr. Wadsworth did so. I never shall forget the citizens of Mays- 
ville and Millersburg and other places for their kindness to me when in 
that condition. They all attended to me and brought nourishment of 
all descriptions. 

In the meantime my wife, who is now resting under the sod, waiting 
the sound of the trump of God, came to see me. She rode all night. 
When she got to the door in the morning I saw that she was greatly 
troubled. I told her not to cry, that I was not dead. Then she smiled 
and came in. Had I staid in Millersburg until the coming Friday I 
would have been there six weeks. 

While I was sick the Superintendent of the road and all the com- 
pany came to see me. They told me that whatever I wanted to ask for 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 45 



it. After 1 came home the President of the road and his wife continued 
to visit me. When I g-)t nearly well he came and asked what would 
1 take to compromise and not bring suit against the company. He said 
that Mr. Taylor had compromised for $500. Well, as they had been 
so good to me and as I had my hands in their pocket, I thought to 
leave them some money, so 1 compromised for the same as Mr. Taylor. 
Mrs. Herrick sued them for $5,000. She was successful in it. I 
started on my crutches to the depot. When I got there the train had 
gotten over the tresde work a short distance from the depot. When 
they saw me they came back. I mention this to show the feeling they 
had for me. While 1 was sick the church at Paris secured the services 
of the Rev. John Johnson, of Cynthiana, and the Rev. J. W. Cala- 
mese, of Paris. 1 was preaching in about two months after I was luirt. 
The following year after the accident at Millersburg, and in Feb- 
ruary of that year, the Baptist cause w\as shocked by the death of one of 
its fiiithful veterans, the Rev. R. Lee, pastor of the Baptist Church of 
(Georgetown, Ky. The Rev. Messrs. Lee and Dupee and myself were 
intimate friends. Before his death, and during his illness, I visited him 
and staid some consi>U rabk* time. This noble minister of Jesus Christ 
departed this life on the 26th of February, 1876. When the day came 
for tlie funeral the church was i)acked and all out of doors was thronged 
with people to hear the last words in due respect to the body of that 
noble Christian minister. The Rev. J. F. Thomas, another eye wit- 
ness, wrote the following to the Baptist Herald^ the Baptist organ edited 
by the Rev. (j. W. Dupee, ofPaducah: 

Georgetown, Ky., February 27, 1876. 
The funeral of Elder R. Lee, pastor of the Colored Baptist Church, 
(Georgetown, who departed this life February 23, 1876, at 6 o'clock a. 
m., was largely attended by a vast concourse of people. The corpse 
was taken to the church at 10 o'clock a. m, for review by the assembled 
congregation, and at 12 the coffin was closed and services commenced. 
The Rev. J. F. Thomas, of Lexington, read the twenty-third Psalm. 
The Rev. R. Martin, of Frankfort, offered prayer. The Rev. M. M. 
Bell, of Lexington, read and sang the 1 1 i8th hymn — "vServant of God, 
Well Done" &c. After singing the above hymn Elder (ieorge W. 
Du])ee, of Paducah, gave a synopsis of the life and labors of Bishop 
Lee, stating that he had been engaged, if tlie longest liver, for twenty- 
five or thirty years to preach the funeral of Brother Lee. He first met 
the deceased near the P,ig Springs in the fall of 1845 — thirty years ago 
this fall. Bishop Lee was born July 25, 1825; died February 23, 1876, 
aged fifty years, five months and twenty-three days. He embraced 
religion when young and joined the Presbyterian Society in 1842 and 
remained with it until 1862, when he was baptized in the fellowship of 



46 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



Pleasant Green Baptist Church, Lexington, by Elder G. W. Dupee. 
He was ordained August 7, 1862, by Elders W. Pratt, J. S. Smith and 
G. W. Dupee, and was called to pastor the Second Baptist Church in 
Georgetown in the fall of the same year. His labors there were very 
successful. He baptized into the fellowship of this church 975 persons 
in fourteen years. Having been called to divide his labors with the 
Second Baptist Church of Versailles he entered upon such duty the first 
Lord's day in January, 1864, where his labors met with like success. 
But a few weeks before his death he resigned his pastorate with that 
church, having baptized 619 persons. Total number baptized for the 
two churches, 1,594. Brother Dupee ])romised to give a full report of 
the labors of Bishop Lee in the April number of the Baptist Herald. 

The speaker read for his text 2d Timothy, iv:7-8. We cannot give 
a detail of sermon, but we will say this much: the speaker displayed tiie 
power of oratory that he is well known to y)ossess. He said : "Thirty 
years ago Reuben Lee, the slave of old Mr. Samuel Wallace, heard that 
form of doctrine which was delivered and obeyed it from the heart. It 
was not his fault that he did not at first join the church of Jesus Christ, 
but being a slave he had to join the Presbyterian Society. But as soon 
as he got possession of himself he joined the Pleasant Green B;iptist 
Church in 1862 and entered upon the work of a minister of the gospel. '^ 

At the conclusion of Elder Du])ee's discourse Elder H. .McDonald, 
pastor of the white church, was invited by Elder Dupee to make some re- 
marks, which he did with a feeling eloquence characteristic of the man. 

Elder E. W. Green was the last speaker. He adverted to his first 
acquaintance with Brother l>ee and of the pleasantness he had with him. 
He filled up and took his seat. 

Thousands of peoi)le, white and colored, followed the remains to 
the grave. When the benediction was pronounced the multitude dis- 
persed until the great day. May we all be ready. J. F. Thomas. 

The Rev. G. VV. Dupee in the same issue of the Herald said : 
"Here the members and friends had prepared the church suitably, it 
being heavily draped. A fine metallic coflin and everything showed 
their intelligence and also the great respect they entertained fi)r their 
lamented pastor. The ministering brethren were generally invited, we 
understood. The following named bishops were present, to-wit : E. W. 
Green. R. Martin, L. C. Natas, J. Johnson, J. F. Thomas, M. M. 
Bell, C. Smothers, J. K. Polk* L. Burley, M. Madison, P. Vinegar, 
D. Hickman, S. Lee, N. Williams, J. Jackson, L. Lewis and H. 
McDonald, pastor of the white church. A number of students from 
(xeorgetown College, members of the churches of Versailles, Lexington, 
Paris, Frankfort, Midway and from various churches about through the 
country. The scene was truly appalling. His last words in the pul])it, 
just fifty-seven hours before he died, were that he knew that he had 
been born of the spirit of God — that Paul had two sons in the gospel, 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 47 



Timothy and Titus — so have I (alhiding to J. K.. I'olk and John Vine- 
gar.)" 

I need add no more to this subhme and solemn scene, but close it 
by saying that the Rev. Lee was in every way an example for the be- 
lievers. He was a true gospel minister in action, soul and purpose of 
heart. I can say that the Baptists of Kentucky have lost a faithful 
minister in the work of the Master. A\'ould that our ministry of 
to-day was such — that the same earnest zeal for the salvation of men 
and the jjrogress of God's cause could be found in our younger 
ministers of the present age. 

The Elkhorn Association got into a kind of tangle and could not pay 
for their minutes. They sent a committee to the Mt. Zion District 
Association, asking if we would consolidate with them. The Associa- 
tion set a time to consider the matter. The time came and the meet- 
ing was held in the Haptist Church at Paris. The Executive Boards of 
both bodies were the authorities in the matter. 

P.-XRis, Kv., July 30, 1879. 

At a joint meeting of the Executive Boards of Mt. Zion and Elk- 
horn District Associations, convened in High Street Baptist Church, 
credentials from their Associations authorizing them to consolidate the 
two bodies, were produced. The devotional exercises were conducted 
by Elder E. W. Cireen, after which he was elected Moderator and 
Brother E. M. Manion Secretary. On motion it was order d that a 
committee be a])pointed to draft resolutions favoring consolidation. 
The committee produced the following preamble and resolutions: 

"Whereas, the several district associations in this section of the 
state are becoming weak, be it 

'■'^ Resolved, That the Elkhorn and Mt. Zion District Associations 
be consolidated and that this body be known hereafter as the Consoli- 
dated Baptist Educational .Association; that the (\)nstitution of the Mt. 
Zion be recognized as the Constitution of the Consolidated Baptist Edu- 
cational Association. 

'■'■Resolved, That the Consolidated Baptist Educational Association 
meet at Covington. Ky., Wednesday before the third Lord's day in 
July, 1880. U'e further recommend that some steps be taken to 
establish a school at Scott's Station, or elsewhere in Kentucky, and that 
the Executive Board of the Consolidated Baptist Educational Associa- 
tion be the committee to carry out the resolution. 

'■'■Resolved, That the Rev. E. W. Green be Moderator of the Con- 
solidated Baptist Educational Association; J. Johnson, Assistant Mode- 
rator; J. W. Calamese, Recording Secretary; L. I). Henderson, Cor- 
responding Secretary; William Smith, Treasurer. 



48 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



J. F. Thomas, 
E. W. Green, 
C. Smothers, 
J. K. Polk, 
W. B. Blackburn, 
J. Johnson, 



Committee. 



The Rev. W. B. Blackburn was one of the most energetic and active 
men in the business of the Association. I could take him and do as 
much business as some six men. At the meeting of the Consolidated 
Baptist Educational Association with the Baptist Church of Covington, 
it was shocked by the a^bsence of the Rev. W. B. Blackburn, the pastor 
in charge, who had died the April previous. The following resolutions 
in respect to hi^ death were adopted : 

Whereas, God, in His allwise providence, has moved from 
the world our much beloved and revered brother. Bishop W. B. Black- 
burn, of Covington, and 

Whereas, This, the Consolidated Baptist Educational Association 
of which he was a member, while bowing in submission to the will of 
Ciod, misses him in her deliberations; and 

Whereas, The loss of our brother in the vineyard of the Lord has 
caused us to grieve much, therefore be it 

Resolved, That through his demise we have lost an earnest 
soldier of the cross, an eloquent expounder of the truth as it is in Jesus 
Christ, an able defender of the doctrine of the Baptist Church, a man 
whose heart was ever ready to assist the poor, raise the fallen, cheer 
the faint, and in whom was personification of all that is true. Be it 
further 

Resolved, That our association wear the usual badge of mourning 
and that we cast the mantle of charity over his faults, be they few or 
many, and think only of his virtue, feeling assured that he passed over 
the river to welcome us across. Be it further 

Resolved, That these resolutions be published in the several city 
papers and a copy sent to his mother and family ; that we condole his 
bereft mother and bid her await with patience the time when she will 
be permitted to join him on the other shore "where the wicked cease 
from troubling and the weary are at rest." Be it further 

Resolved, That each church in the bounds of this Association 
hold a memorial service in favor of him and that to-morrow afternoon 
It be held in this Association. 

W. J. Simmons, D.D., J. K. Polk. J. L. Dudley, Brothers L. D. 
Henderson, O. A. Nelson, W. M. Ward composed the committee for 
the above resolutions. Accordingly, Sunday at the afternoon session, 
the Association and citizens of Covington and Cincinnati assembled in 
the First Baptist Church to participate in his memorial service. It was 
a grand, solemn and large gathering. When the Rev. J. L. Dudley 



WRITTEN HY HIMSELF. 49 



had announced those who were to jjarticipate in the services, the Rev. 
J. K. }\)\k sang the hymn "Servant of (jod well done." The Rev. 
J. W. Calaniese offered prayer. 1 opened the services, choosing for a 
text Job .\iv:i4 — '• If a man die shall he live again?'" I was followed 
by the Re\-. Messrs. J. K. Tolk. J. lolinson, j. \V. Calamese and 
William .Miller. Thus passed another scene of solemnity in the Baptist 
Churcli in ('ovini'ton. 



CHAPTER VI. 



IN September of 1880 I received a dispatch from Maysville to come 
at once, that my wife was " spitting blood" and was not expected 
to live. I left Paris at once for home. It was the Lord's will 
and I got there a short time before she died. I conversed with her 
concerning her prospects for heaven and speaking of the goodness of 
(iod. Said she, in substance: " My time is at hand, and all is well." 
While it was upon me a heavy stroke of sorrow, yet I bowed in humble 
submission to the will of (Iod that in His providence He was doing all 
things well in separating us. Finally she fell asleep in Christ. The 
following article concerning her death was printed in one of the city 
papers : 

"Sister Susan Green, wife of our venerable father in the gospel. 
Elder E. W. (ireen, of Maysville, departed this life September 13. 
[880. She professed religion fifty years ago and received the ordinance 
of baptism at the hands of the Rev. Walter Warder. Thirty-five years 
ago she was married to Elder (ireen and together they lived happily for 
that long space of time. Sister Green's life was not an uneventful one. 
She suffered much, both physically and mentally. She was born a 
slave, and after marrying was at one time compelled to witness that 
most dreadful of all sights — the carrying away of her own child (a son) 
to the slave markets of the south. The little fellow was tied to a stake 
barefooted and almost naked in winter. She bade him a tearful adieu, 
her heart bleeding and yearning for her child which the accursed yoke 
of slavery prevented her from claiming as her own and whom she never 
saw again. Surely the Lord loved her for he has chastened her. She 
meekly said 'Thy willl be done.' Some two years ago the Lord laid 
his hand upon her again. This time she received a paralytic stroke, 
which disabled her for awhile. A few weeks ago she was able to stand 
alone, for the first time since she was stricken. A few days ago she 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 5 1 

was confined to her bed by her last illness. Every possible remedy 
was used and all were unremitting in their attentions to her wants, but 
in spite of all that was done she continued to sink. Shortly before her 
death, feeling the hour was nigh, when her desire to be with Christ 
would be gratified, she called her niece, Sister Nelson, to her side and 
told her the hymns which she desired to be sung at her funeral, viz: 
'On Jordan's stormy banks I stand,' 'Come brothers and sisters that 
love one another.' She bade all farewell and sank to sleep in the arms 
of Jesus and awoke in that happy place 'where the wicked cease from 
troubling and the weary are at rest.' Her funeral services were con- 
ducted by Elders John Johnson, of Cynthiana; James Thomas, of 
Paris, and J. W. Calamese, of Washington. Elder Johnson's text was 
First Corinthians, xv:55— 'O death, where is thy sting? O grave, 
where is thy victory?' It was an able discourse. He was followed by 
Elders Thomas and Calamese with very appropriate remarks. At the 
conclusion of the services the remains were carried to their last resting 
place, followed by a large concourse of i)eople. Surely a mother in 
Israel has gone and we can only wait for our time to cross to meet her 
where parting is no more. She has left a husband and children to 
mourn her loss, but that dear husband is not as one without hope, for 
he looks forward to the time when he can meet her on the banks ot 
sweet deliverance. We who knew her but a short while can add our 
testimony and say with the inspired writer: 'Blessed are the dead who 
die in the Lord, yet from henceforth saith the spirit for they may rest 
from their labors and their works do follow them.' " 

The writer of this article was 1). L. V^ Moffett, to whom 1 give 
due credit for the manner and spirit thereof. Not long after the death 
of my wife my daughter Maria was stricken very severely, which re- 
sulted in her losing her mind and thus having to be taken to the Lex- 
ington Asylum, where she died in a short time. In the Cincinnati riot 
of April, 1884, my son Thomas was killed by some misfortune, what it 
was I am unable to say. 

On the 8th of June, 1883, I left home for Paris, the following 
Sunday of course being my regular day there. When 1 got to Millers- 
burg the train was boarded by the Rev. 0. T. (iould. President of the 
Millersburg Female College, Professors Bristow and Carrington, con- 
nected with the same institution, and a number of lady students from 
the college. Colonel Morrow, an intimate friend of mine, rose up po- 
litely and said to Gould: "You may have my seat." "No," said he. 
"I'll make this nigger get up." When he said this he and Professor 



THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA W. GREEN, 



Bristow took hold of me with the expression: "Come oiit of here." 

I said to them: "I paid for this seat in Maysville. I will hold it 
to Paris or die in my tracks/' 

"Then you won't come out?" 

I told him " No ; that if he had asked me like a gentleman I would 
have come out, but before I would be pulled out like a dog I would 
die." He then asked: 

"Did you call me no gentleman?" 

Said I : " No sir; had you asked me like a gentleman I would have 
got up." 

The Rev. John Barbour, who is a gentleman and Christian, when 
[ ^ot to Paris came to me and asked if I were going to let that ghost 
off. I told him that I was not. "Well," said he, "if you want my 
testimony you can get it, for I saw it all." Bristow came up to Mr. 
Harbour and said to him : 

"Do you take this old scoundrel's part? If }<)u do, I will give 
you what the nigger got." 

Mr. Barlx>ur told him that he was traveling, and desired to keep 
out of difficulties with any one. 

I got off the train and went down in town, (Paris,) when Mr. 
Charlton .\le.\ander came hunting me. VVhen he met me, said he: 
"You were in a fuss on the train this evening." I told him that I was. 
Continued he ; " What are you going to do about it?" Itold him that 1 
thought that I would go home and consult with m}- 
friends. He said : " No ; you have friends here. Go up to Mr. Lock- 
hart's and get out a warrant for 'assault and battery.' " He went with 
me and I did so. He told me to go down to the lower livery stable and 
that I would find Colonel Morrow, who knew all the party, and if he were 
not at the stable to go to his house. I did as instructed. Tlie Colonel 
had just left for home. I went to his hcmse and was invited in and 
given a seat. He asked me if I knew the party. I told him that I did 
not. "Well," said he, " I know them all.'' He gave me a number of 
names, stating that on the morrow he was going to Millersburg and would 
return on the evening train and present to me the balance. It was such 
a peculiar affair that I must give the opinion of Gould, Bristow and the 
press generally. Let us hear the statement of Mr. Gould in the Mays- 
ville Bulletin: 

Mr. Editor: Commencement duties have prevented me heretofore 
from noticing the many misrepresentations of my encounter with Rev. 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 53 



Elisha (rreen, a man of color, upon the Maysville and Lexington train, 
June 8, 1883. At the time referred to I had twenty-eight young ladies 
under my care. Attention to the baggage detained me so that I was 
the very last to board the train, doing so only after it was pretty well 
under headway. As soon as 1 entered the ladies' coach 1 noticed con- 
siderable excitement and heard such exclamations as "It is a shame!" 
" He ought to be put out!" "If he does not get up he ought to be 
made to." The matter was exjjlained when I saw from the rear door 
two of my young ladies standing in the aisle and a big black negro man 
complacently occupying a seat to himself. I looked and there was not 
a vacant seat in the car except the one beside the negro. In many 
places the young ladies were sitting three u])on a seat and several gen- 
tlemen were standing in the passway, having given up their places. 
Among them standing were Professors Bristow, Carrington, Payne. 
McClinlock. ^^'addel and Pijier and my own son. As the two young 
ladies had already been standing some moments directly at the end of 
the seat on which the negro sat it was evident that he had no intention 
of offering them the place. I therefore walked back to him and said to 
him: " I wish you would give your seat to these young ladies, because 
if you do not there will be a disturbance." He promptly rei)lied.thar 
he would ncjt. " \'er.y well," said I, '• when the conductor comes we 
will see whether you do not." I then sent for Captain Martin, who 
was in the front coach, and waited no little time for his coming, since 
he did not come directly, but stopped to take up all the tickets by the 
way. While I was thus waiting and the young ladies still standing the 
negro informed me that if the conductor compelled him to give them 
his seat he would make the railroad company suffer for it. When Con- 
ductor Martin at last reached us I appealed to liini whether the young 
ladies must stand and let the negro sit. His reply was that he could do 
nothing. ••.Ml right," said I, "'then I will see what I can do." 
Leaning over the back of the seat I took the negro by the arm, saying : 
"Come, get out of here." At once, and with considerable violence, 
he struck me and loosened my grasp. Then it was that Professor 
Bristow, who was sitting on the arm of the second seat in front of us, 
and who had neither spoken to the darkey nor been at any time near 
him, seeing him viciously strike me, rose up and struck the fellow over 
the head with a small hand bag. Professor Bristow hit him but once 
and Mr. C"arrirgton never touched him at all in any way, manner, 
shape or form. Nor did I touch his person other than to take him by 
the arm as already described. 1 did not know who the fellow was. I 
did know, however, that he was a big black negro and that two young 
ladies were standing while he sat. Having never been accustomed to 
see such an indignity as that put upon a lady, that she must stand 
through a ride of eight miles while a negro man lolls at his ease, I couid 
not bring myself tamely to submit to it. I do not believe that there is 
a gentleman in Iventucky who would stand idly by and see his wife and 
daughters thus insulted. These young ladies came from the e.xtrenie 
south, hundreds of miles from their homes, with neither father nor 
mother near, but depending upon me for protection from insult and 



54 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA \V. GREEN, 

injury. I had been recreant to my trust and unworthy the position 
which I occupy had I not, after exhausting apjjeal to the negro and 
conductor, myself attempted his ejection from the seat. If any man 
has fallen so low as to think white women should stand while negro 
men keep their seats then him 1 have insulted, and really I do not care 
if I have. Yours, &:c. , 

Geo. T. Gould. 
Millersburg Female College, June 19, 1883. 

Here Mr. Gould's statement ends. I take the liberty to say that 
there is not an ounce of truth in the thing. I am a negro, as Mr. 
Gould says, but I would rather be a big bhick negro with the character 
and reputation I have, and one that tells the truth, than an educated 
dude of a white man that can lie faster than the Recording Angel in 
heaven would have patience to write. There is an expression which 
says: "A lie can go a mile while truth is putting his boots on." 

Let us turn to another statement of the affair by one of Mr. Gould's 
colleagues — Professor Bristow. The Daily Bulletin of Thursday, June 
21, 1883, contained the following: 

The following explanation of the assault on the Rev. Elisha 
(ireen, of this city, is printed in the Paris Kciifiukian as coming from 
Professor Bristow : 

"Meeting Professor Bristow, of the Millersburg Female College, 
and a pleasant party of young ladies on Saturday's train, we asked him 
to record the names in our note book, which he did as follows: Pro- 
fessor F. L. Bristow, Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Miss Jennie Sanders, Parks- 
burg. West Va. ' All seated and no Rev. African molested,' added he. 
We then asked him as to the facts of the case in regard to the diffi- 
culty with the colored man Green. ' As we went into the car,' said 
he, 'several persons made way to let the young ladies have seats and 
we expected the darkey to do likewise, and after waiting sometime 
asked him if he did not intend to take another seat and let the ladies 
have his. He was positive that he would not do so. We waited for 
the conductor to make Green act the part of a gentleman, but the con- 
ductor did not feel authorized to interfere with him, and we said that 
we would force him to act the part of a gentleman. Mr. Gould attempted 
to draw him out of the seat when Green struck at him, and I tapped 
the darkey with this light satchel. I knew nothing of his being a 
preacher or crippled, as he is a very large, robust-looking darkey, and 
. I notice gets about very well. I think any man, white or black, that 
won'j; readily accommodate ladies, ought be made to do so. I knocked 
a darkey down once in Little Rock, Ark., who would not give way to 
ladies in the street. I did tell a man, (said to be the Rev. John Bar- 
bour) who sided with Green, that I could accommodate him.'" 

This ends the statement of Professor Bristow. I made a statement 
in the beginning of the case, but I wish to make the one that I wrote to 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 



55 



the paper when the act was committed, because it was then fresh in 
my memory. • I wrote to the Bulletin, of this city, by re(|uest, as fol- 
lows : 

On Kriday, the 8th day of June, having occasion to go to Paris, 
where I have a charge in connection with the Maysville church, I 
bought a ticket to that place and occupied a seat on one of the cars of 
the 12:30 p. m. train until I got to Millersburg. At that place a man, 
whom I afterwards learned was Dr. (i. T. (rould, of the Female Insti- 
tute at Millersburg, with several other men and a number of young 
ladies, came into the car and for several minutes were busy seating 
seating themselves. I paid no particular attention to them as there were 
vacant enough seats for all, and presently all were seated except two 
ladies. Colonel Robert Morrow, who occupied the seat immediately 
behind me, arose and offered it to them. Hut one of the teachers, Pro- 
fessor IJristow, said: "No. I don't want your seat; Til make this nigger 
get up." And with that he siezed me suddenly by the collar and said: 
"Come out of here," and at the same time Dr. Gould caught me by 
the arm. I told them I had paid for that seat from Maysville and did 
not intend to be driven out like a dog. I had no notice that it was 
wanted, and would have given it up if I had been asked politely, and 
if there had been no other seats in the car I should have offered it to 
them. I try to be polite on all occasions, and I do not think any per- 
son in this city who knows me will ever say that I have been intention- 
ally impolite to any one. When I told Professor Bristow that I'did not 
intend to be driven out of my seat he stepped into the aisle and into the 
second seat ahead of me and struck me three or four times over the 
head with a valise while Dr. Gould and some other person held me. 
At this i)oint Colonel Morrow and some other gentlemen, among them 
Conductor John Martin, interfered and saved me from further injury. 
There was one cut on the top of my head and cuts on two of my fingers. 
At Paris, on the following Monday, I procured warrants against the men 
who assailed me on the charge of "assault and battery," and I shall be 
present at the proper time to present my case against them in court. 

Y.. W. Green. 

Under my article the editor penned the following: "Rev. Elisha 
Green is sixty-five years of age and has been a minister of the gospel 
for thirty-nine years, all of that time pastor of the Maysville Colored 
Baptist Church, and since 1855 has also had charge of the church at 
Paris. He is a (juiet and unobtrusive man and is esteemed and re- 
spected not only by his own race, but also by the white population of 
Maysville. He was injured several years ago in a railroad accident and 
has since been a cripple." 

Having given the statements of Dr. Gould, Professor Bristow and 
myself, 1 will give the opinion of the press in general. The Lexington 
Transcript o{ ]\\x\Q 19, 1883, had the following: 



56 'IHE LIFK OF KF.V. ELISHA W. (;REEN, 

Northern pai)ersto the contrary, there is a deep-seated sense of justice 
to the black man in the breast of our best white men that arouses their in- 
dignation in this community upon a broad and catholic principle of 
right in which color and social condition do not at all enter. The 
Reverend President, G. T. Gould, of Millersburg, who struck the old 
black preacher, Elisha Green, has in the public estimation so proclaimed 
himself a bad citizen that any college or church that carries him will 
have to do it as Sinbad did the old man of the sea. That institution 
cannot flourish until that man and the other two associated with him are 
dismissed from its employ. Such men are not proper characters to en- 
trust with young girls. This man (lould is the same party that Mrs. 
Tarrant, of our city, and other lady teachers in his school declined to 
be associated with, on the ground of ungentlemanly conduct in him. A 
mule and plow at this season would have been a more fitting situation 
for the development of the reverend fellow's genius and manners than 
one in which he is liable to be looked to as an example of decorum by 
our best young ladies. 

Now, to affirm the statement made by the Lexington Transcript, I 

will give the following, comuig from a citizen of Maysville : 

\Vnien Rev. (reorge T. Gould lived in Maysville some years ago 
he was well thought of by members of all denominations. But since he 
has been teaching the Female Seminary in Millersburg various reports 
|)rejudicial to his reputation have obtained circulation and among many 
persons credence. Whether the charges of intemperance have been 
true or false his conduct on the afternoon train last Friday in assaulting 
Elisha Green, the well-known colored Baptist preacher of this city, was 
a most unwarrantable outrage. We have only to say of Elisha Green 
that his character as a man, honest, truthful, peaceful, religious, is one 
that Mr. Gould and many other white ministers might covet. Miscon- 
duct in this community, where his life as a slave and free man were 
passed, has been above reproach and beyond suspicion. On Friday 
last he paid for a passage from this city to Paris, and took the seat to 
which his ticket entitled him. He occupied it without molestation and 
without disturbing any one until he reached Millersburg, where the car 
was boarded by the Rev. Dr. Gould, his assistant Professor Bristow, 
and about thirty young ladies found seats. Gould demanded that 
Elisha (ireen should surrender the seat he occupied, which he declined 
to do. They appealed to Conductor Martin, who told them that (rreen 
had paid for half of the seat and had a right to keep it and he would 
not remove him; that if either of them desired the other half he would 
see that Cireen yielded it ; that he was a respectable man, a minister of 
the gospel and should not be disturbed. Martin then left the car and 
(rould and Bristow continued their altercation with Green and finally 
both assaulted him, beating him over the head with satchels. If the 
facts be as stated to us it was a most unmanly outrage, degrading to Mr. 
(rould's character as a minister of the gospel, and as a teacher of youth 
unworthy of any one professing to be a gentleman. It was j)ure, una- 
dulterated cowardly ruffianism and none guilty of it ought to be 



VVKI'l TKN RV HIMSKI.K. 57 



tolerated in the pul])it or as the principal of a school to \vhi( h young 
ladies are sent to be instructed in manners and morals. A white 
minister of the gospel was on hoard of the train, who had known (ireen 
all his life, and told him he had witnessed the assault and would give 
his testimony if called on. Whereupon Bristow, with characteristic 
blackguardism and ruffianism, offered to fight him, which of course was 
declined. 

COWARDLY ASSAULT. 



K(n\ E. W. Green, Colored, of This City, Assailed and Beaten— Details of lite Disgraceful 

Affair as Given By an Eye-Witness. 



A most cowardly and brutal assault was made uj)()n Rev. Elisha 
("rreen on board the Kentucky Central Railroad train on Friday by 
Rev. G. T. C.ould, President of the Millersburg Female College, and 
Professors Bristow and Carrington, connected with the same institution. 
Rev. Elisha Green was en route for Paris, where he was to preach Sun- 
day. When the train reached Millersburg it was boarded by Rev. G. 
T. Gould, Professors Bristow and Carrington, and a large number of 
young ladies of the college on their way to Versailles, where they were 
to give an exhibition that night. 

Conductor John Martin, in an interview with the rei)()rter of the 
Ahw Repiibliciin, says he was approached by Rev. (ic.uld, who de- 
manded of him the removal of Rev. (ireen from the car. He refused 
to do so, stating that he was an old colored prea( her who had always 
acted gentlemanly during the fretpient trips he had made on Lis train, 
and that he was entitled to one-half the seat he was occupying; that he 
would see that they secured the other half should they desire it. Rev. 
Gould responded: "If you don't put him out we will" and commenced 
drawing off his gloves. Conductor Martin states that he passed on col- 
lecdng tickets, never thinking there would be any trouble, as all the 
parties were i)reachers, but was immediately recalled by a scuffle and 
loud words. When he reached the spot Professor Carrington was 
mounted on the seat holding Rev. Green, Rev. Gould pinioning him 
from behind and Professor Bristow raining blows with a brass-bound 
valise upon his head. • He commanded Bristow to desist, who rather 
reluctantly consented when informed by Conductor Martin that it he 
did not he would compel him to do so. (Conductor Martin says utmost 
confusion prevailed, the passengers rusliing out into other cars. Colonel 
Robert Morrow, of Paris, in an interview with the Bourbon News re- 
porter, substantially confirms Conductor Martui, and further statestii.it 
he tendered his seat to Rev. Gould, who rephed : "No, I thank you; 
I don't want that seat. I am going to have that one and he has got to 
set out of here." Colonel Morrow and others also state to the News 

... 

that Professor Carrington attempted to draw a pistol, but on bemg ad- 
monished not to attemi)t it he did not do so. Another eye-witness is 
authority for the statement that Professor Bristow attempted to open his 
valise as if to get a pistol. It is further stated that on th,' arrival of the 



58 THE LIFE OF REV. ELISHA VV. GREEN, 



train at Paris Rev. John Barbour, who had witnessed the difificulty, 
told Green he would give his testimony if c died on, whereupon Bristow, 
\vh(j overheard him, stepped up and informed him if he desired to have 
a "finger in the pie" he could be accommodated. 

We have givjn a statement of the affair at length that the facts 
might be fully understood. It is apparent that it makes a strong case 
of double-distilled cowardly ruffianism that we would not have believed 
any Kerituckian would have been guilty of. The case is more brutal 
when it is taken in consideration that Rev. Elisha Green is advanced in 
years and enfeebled by an injury received on the road near the place of 
his assault several years ago, whilst his assailants were three strong, vig- 
orous, able-bodied men, and one of whom could have handled him. 
It is a shocking and disgusting outrage when we consider that the at- 
tack was made upon a colored man, and we are of the firm belief that it 
never would have been attempted if he (Green) had been white. It 
evinces base, brutal and degraded minds which assaulted and would 
perhaps have gone further if they had not been restrained. It proclaims 
to the world that they are totally unfitted for the positions they hold as 
educators of the morals of young ladies. It is a disgrace they have 
brought upon the ministry for which they should be fittingly rebuked by 
the church to which they belong. Finally, it betrays the wolf in 
sheep's clothing — the most vicious and despicable of characters. 

— \Maysville New Republican. 

There can be no doubt but that Dr. Gould, Professor Bristow and 
Secretary Carrington have made a serious mistake and placed themselves 
in an ugly attitude before the public. — [Car/isle Mcrcurv. 

Having put out a warrant on Mr. Gould for "assault and battery," 
as advised by Mr. Alexander, the case came up in March of the year 
1884 in the Paris Courthouse. Mr. G. C. Lockhart was my employe 
and Mr. Harry Ward, of Cynthiana, was the attorney for Gould. The 
cost of the suit was $300 and the court allowed me $24 damages. I will 
present a synopsis of what took place in process of the trial. Mr. Ward 
addressed the jury in this manner: 

''Judge, Your Honor, Gentlemen of the Jury: Here is Bishop 
Green, Elder Green, Rev. Green, and I believe the conductor calls 
him 'Uncle 'Lisha.' Don't you know that it is wrong for you to go to 
law? And here you sit in the Courthouse attending a law suit and I 
look up to you for instruction. Brother 'Lisha, you don't hke to be 
called a negro." 

Said I: "So far as nigger is concerned I do not like that; but 
negro, I am proud ut it." 

This is merely tlie beginning of Mr. Ward's speech. Mr. Lock- 
hart followed. 



WKll TF.N i;V HIMSELF. 59 



'' /uiigc. Your Honor, Gentlemen of the Jury: I am a lawyer and 
sworn to enforce the law. I intend to do it irrespective of race, color 
or previous condition of servitude. My opponent, all he has done is to 
make fun of Uncle Rlisha, hut he can't laugh this thing out of court." 

This is what Mr. Lockhart said as introductory to his sjjeech. 
Such an eloquent, profound exposition of law 1 never heard before. It 
indeed was a grand speech, embracing points of law and facts in every 
proposition and cpiestion. Sometime after this Mr. Gould was found 
guilty of immoral conduct and excluded from the church and confer- 
ence of which he was a member.* 

In conclusion let me say that I have no accurate account of the 
persons that I have baptized since I began preaching. When in Kan- 
sas two years ago the Rev. George W. Dupee said it must be in the 
neighborhood of 6,000. But whether it is this or less, I am conscious 
of the fact that my work has been blessed. Ciod has never withheld 
from his humble .servant any good thing. In all these years I cannot 
remember of closing a meeting without having gained some soul for 
Christ. Often and at times the way has looked dark and cloudy, but 
nevertheless, God came to my rescue. I would try to live so that I 
could tell my brethren and sisters "Follow me as I would follow 
Christ." I have always since my conversion, tried to follow Jesus Christ. 

A word to the young ministers: A great responsibility now lies 
at^our hands. God needs you to carry out his divine plan in the 
salvation of the world. We, the old veterans of the cross, are passing 
away. Soon we shall sleep with the fathers. Who will lead when we are 
gone? It rests with you to decide this important question. While this 
is an age of education and of progress in the sciences and arts, yet it is 
no less the age of immoral conduct. Possess your character and 
educate yourselves. You have no excuse now. If you go into the minis- 
try uneducated in this day of enlightenment you show plainly you are 
not a progressive creature. Keep yourself pure from whisky, wine, 
beer or any other thing that degrades a man. It is my character 
that has ke]Jt mc in Paris and Maysville for these thirty-odd 
years. You can do the same if you will live right, act right 
and do right. If I could call back forty-five years I would 
be seen grappling with language and the different sciences as 
other men. P>ut slavery prevented me from getting an education. I 
came up in an age of unreconciliation between men — when books in a 



*I have the trial of the above statement. 



6o THE LIP'E OF RRV. ELISHA W. GREEN. 



black man's hand were ecjual to a case of murder sometimes in this day. 
But I thank God that that day has past and the glories of a l)etter one 
are upon us. Young ministers, whatever you do, possess a good char- 
acter. But have both character and education. Be men. and strong 
men. We old fathers have prepared the material for the building, and 
you must do the building. Do this and God will bless you. 








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